Kantar Media's Compete, has released data showing that online consumers are now using retailers' Facebook pages as online circulars. The results, part of Compete's quarterly Online Shopper Intelligence Study that tracks cross-channel shopping behavior, suggests that consumers are increasingly using Facebook to enhance their shopping experience and engage with brands online.

According to Compete, one quarter of consumers now visit an official Facebook page for a retailer or consumer product at least once a month. And more than half of these respondents (56 percent) say they use retailers’ Facebook pages to keep up to date on sales and promotions.

Facebook pages are also influencing purchasing decisions. More than 20 percent of consumers said that Facebook pages have been "influential" or "extremely influential" in making a purchasing decision, suggesting that posting sales, promotions and other calls to action on Facebook is a wise idea for retailers looking to drive incremental sales and boost consumer engagement on the social network.

"Our data show that Facebook pages can be a highly strategic and relatively low-cost marketing tool for retailers to engage with shoppers," said Debra Arbesman, Compete senior associate, retail and consumer products. "Savvy retailers are now making Facebook pages part of an integrated online shopping experience, and we expect this model will take the industry by storm in the coming months."

Look no further than Apple, which uses its iTunes Facebook page as a storefront. Compete examined traffic to Facebook's top brand pages and discovered that the iTunes Facebook page actually received more traffic than the iTunes domain did in February.

"Nearly half of consumers in the study reported that they are a fan of five or more retailers/brands on Facebook, so the opportunity for retailers may be largely untapped. As more data is available to retailers about the benefits of engaging shoppers on Facebook, we'll likely see more emerging strategies to enable brands to more aggressively tap into this opportunity," added Matt Pace, Compete managing director of retail and consumer products.

Compete Online Shopper Intelligence is an industry-wide research report that explores the attitudes and behaviors of online shoppers to provide marketers with powerful insight into the complete online shopping experience.

The Spring 2011 Online Shopper Intelligence report was compiled from a survey of 3,269 online purchasers between 14 April and 5 May, 2011.