Merchants partner with 8thBridge to create a social shopping experience for their customers on Facebook and ecommerce sites. Customers engage merchants on their own terms in a shopping experience that is portable, personalized, and participatory.

History was made on July 8th, 2009 when Alvenda, currently known as 8thBridge, brought online retail to Facebook and again on August 12, 2010 with the travel industry. History was made once again in December 2010 when 8thBridge powered stores reached a daily record of $100,000 in sales on Facebook. 8thBridge monetizes social media for some of the largest merchants in the world including 1-800-Flowers.com, Lands’ End, Brooks Brothers, Delta Air Lines, Hallmark, HauteLook, and the fastest growing division of Avon called Mark.

Over 500 million people use Facebook to discover and promote the things they care about. Today, fewer customers believe in what they are told and buy what they are sold. Increasingly, customers are learning about new products from friends more frequently than from brands. 8thBridge enables customers to connect in a relevant way with merchants on Facebook and empower them to extend support beyond a simple vote of their pocket books. 8thBridge makes it easy for customers to more-effectively advocate for merchants they care about on Facebook, blogs, and other social media.

8thBridge’s merchants are rewarded with 10 to 20 times the engagement rates achieved with tra­ditional direct marketing and social media programs. People shop more when not required to leave their preferred online experience and when their friends make a recommendation.

8thBridge’s innovative technology platform, 8thBridge StoreCastâ„¢, enables the convergence of social networking, ecommerce, and advertising. 8thBridge opens millions of in-stream shopping experiences that include a quick checkout feature inside Facebook’s news feed and fan pages. The store is brought to the customer rather than the other way around.

8thBridge, a Minneapolis MN company, was founded in 2008 as is led by executives with domain expertise in ecommerce, direct marketing, social media, and online publishing. Alvenda, currently known as 8thBridge, was named the grand prize winner of the 2009 Minnesota Cup and has been featured in Advertising Age, Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, Business Week, New York Times, WWD, Bloomberg TV, and Techcrunch. The Ticket Counterâ„¢ by 8thBridge was named one of the Top Ten Marketer Apps of 2010 by AdAge. 8thBridge is funded by Split Rock Partners and Trident Capital.