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Social commerce, also known as social selling or social shopping, refers to the practice of buying and selling products or services directly from within a social media platform.
In 2020, Pinterest, Facebook, and Instagram all relaunched their social commerce tools with a new emphasis on a streamlined online shopping experience.
If the very platforms that facilitate such a trend recognize its importance, you can bet it’s worth considering for your ecommerce business.
Data from eMarketer and Insider Intelligence shows that U.S. retail social commerce sales will reach $36.62 billion in 2021, accounting for 4.3% of total retail ecommerce sales.
Since 2017, the market has grown from 45.8 million social commerce buyers to 90.4 in 2021. By 2023, it’s projected to reach 101.1 million shoppers and $56.17 billion in sales.
Facebook
If you’ve got a Facebook business page and products to sell, you can build a shop that lives right on your Page. The shops are customizable, so you can choose the goods and collections to feature. If you don’t already have your Facebook catalog set up for use with Instagram, you can import your existing product catalog directly from your website. If you’ve built a Facebook catalog for use with Shoppable Pins on Instagram, you’re already part of the way there. Facebook Stores use the same product catalog. It just takes a few clicks to add a Facebook Store to your Facebook Page. You can choose which online shopping experience you want customers to have. You have the option for customers to handle their check out in the app, or open up a Messenger chat with your business. You also have the option to send them to your website to complete the checkout process.Instagram
Instagram has recently upgraded the Shoppable Post experience to allow people to shop and checkout directly on the Instagram platform, using Facebook Pay. Some products have a Buy Now option, while others require you to add them to your cart. If your business sells services rather than products, you will not be able to create an Instagram Shop. To set up your Instagram Shop, you must have an Instagram Business account connected to a Facebook Page. You must first have your Facebook Shop set up because it uses the same catalog. Unlike Facebook Shops, which can be accessed from both mobile and desktop devices, Instagram Shops can only be accessed from mobile devices.Pinterest
Like Instagram, Pinterest Shops can only be accessed from mobile devices. The difference between Pinterest and Instagram Shops is that Pinterest still directs people to the retailer’s website to complete the purchase. The redirection occurs within a web browser and doesn’t require the user to open another window.
WodBottom is a fitness apparel brand with more than 22,000 Facebook fans. With their Facebook Shop, people can shop directly from the fan page, without ever needing to visit the official WodBottom website. Those that don’t wish to shop on Facebook can still visit the official website and shop there.
Facebook recently announced Shops can further streamline the checkout process with Facebook Pay. The additional feature aims to create simple, pleasant online shopping experiences.
Lilicloth is a small business that sells graphic print apparel. They have more than 7,000 followers on Pinterest. Their shop is full of a variety of products.
Outside of the shop, Lilicloth has an attractive Pinterest account, with highly organized boards.
Each board is a category of shirts – from Vacation & Trip to Cute Cats and Animal Prints. This makes it easy to find the products you’re most interested in possibly buying. Though you can’t use the Pinterest Shop feature on the desktop version, if you’re browsing through the Pinterest mobile app, you can click to buy.
Jewelry Unlimited is a fine jewelry retailer in Atlanta. They’ve got over 340,000 followers on Instagram. There, they share photos and videos of their products, physical stores, and highlight their other social media platforms. Mobile users can see their shop, where they can buy virtually any product available in the online store at the official Jewelry Unlimited website.
Ecommerce vs. Social Commerce
Ecommerce is the broad term used to describe the process of exchanging money for goods and services online. Social commerce is a subset of this approach. Social commerce solves a few pain points ecommerce creates, which plays a role in its recent, rapid growth. Consider that more than half of all internet traffic comes from mobile devices. This, combined with the fact that mobile users are much more likely to abandon their carts than desktop users, means that a streamlined checkout process is crucial. Social commerce removes many of the main drop-off points where traditional ecommerce methods lose customers. Since checkout occurs directly within the shopper’s chosen app, there’s no need to leave. Users can purchase products, then go right back to scrolling through their feeds for updates from friends and family. The smoother process makes for happy customers. And the social platforms appreciate the traffic and engagement, so they’re making it easier for more brands to start selling. The built-in tools allow brands to tag products, engage with buyers, manage orders, and ultimately control the customer experience.Social Commerce vs. Social Selling
Social commerce shouldn’t be confused with social selling. Social selling is about building relationships on social media to build your sales prospect list. It moves the final transaction off social media.Does Social Commerce Actually Work?
Yes! 84% of shoppers look over at least one social media site before making a purchase. And, 23% of shoppers are influenced by social media peer recommendations. It just makes sense for businesses to sell directly from the places where customers are researching and making recommendations to one another. If your target market lies between the ages of 18 and 34, then you definitely need to take advantage of what social commerce has to offer. That’s where people in this age group like to shop anyway. They’re already online and primed to shop while they scroll through their social feeds. Nearly half of internet users in this age group made a purchase on social media in 2019, and another 27% have said they’d be willing to try it. So why does it work? If we go beyond how it removes the common friction points of traditional ecommerce, it’s fairly easy to see. Through social commerce, you can get specific, ready-to-buy products in front of the right people. Sure, ecommerce and marketing can do this too, but not in the same way. Social commerce gets people at the moment – and makes it almost impossible to avoid shopping online.Which Social Media Platforms are the Best for Social Commerce Campaigns?
Snapchat (Coming Soon – Maybe….)
Snapchat launched a closed beta test called Brand Profiles. Included in this experience is a “Native Store” powered by Shopify. It makes it possible for social media users to browse and make purchases from within the app. Right now, the feature is limited only to the approved influencer accounts, belonging to high-profile celebrities including Kylie Jenner and Kim Kardashian. If you were hoping we’d add Twitter to this list, sorry – it doesn’t seem to be in the cards. The company introduced a buy now button allowing brands to sell certain items directly from tweets in 2014. But by January 2017, they decided it wasn’t working and abandoned the feature altogether.Companies Rocking Social Commerce
With the recent introduction of built-in shops on social media, many brands still rely on product tags that make it possible to go directly to a product’s page from the social post. Regardless of whether the checkout process takes place on the social networks, or directs shoppers to the product page on the company’s official website, there are plenty of brands out there shaping the social commerce revolution.WodBottom on Facebook
Lilicloth on Pinterest
Jewelry Unlimited on Pinterest
Yankee Candle on Pinterest
Yankee Candle is a well-known brand that’s keeping up with the times on social media. They’ve opened up a Pinterest Shop to make it possible to sell products directly to their 78,000 followers. Beyond candles, the company highlights wax warmers and wax melts, too.
