What Is Social Commerce and How Could It Benefit Your Business?

Jul 12

E-commerce has transformed the online marketplace with worldwide revenues exceeding $400 billion in 2020. The number of websites selling goods and services is endless, and the online market has evolved rapidly since the 2000s, moving from the original B2B and B2C model websites, with sites like eBay and Amazon, to the later platforms like Etsy and Shpock who have created a consumer-to-consumer level in the market.

Now, social media platforms are building on their community foundations and providing the next wave of e-commerce, becoming a centralised space to buy and sell products and services. This is the era of social commerce. This market is worth more than $89.4 billion, with a prediction this will increase substantially to over $600 billion by 2027. If you ever needed a reason to be social media savvy with your business, this is it.

what is social commerce?

Social commerce is the integration of e-commerce into social media. It provides a more targeted and personal in-app shopping experience for social media users, enhancing social engagement and accessibility for the user whilst benefitting businesses both financially and analytically.

Traditionally, users will shop externally on brand websites or independent suppliers and share onto a platform. Social commerce eliminates the need for third-party re-direction and allows users to search and purchase all within a single social media platform. It’s a more streamlined, single route transaction. A ‘one-stop’ shop if you will.

Social commerce is new but rapidly evolving. Platforms including Instagram and TikTok are already experimenting with more advanced social commerce features like live shopping, which has already proven popular in countries such as China and generated $60 billion in global sales in 2019. Live shopping allows influencers and businesses to provide live demonstrations and recommendations, but also allows users the opportunity to ask questions and find out more about products before they buy. It almost feels like you are shopping with an expert in live time (almost). Some channels even boast $1 million sales in 10 minutes! QVC must be quaking.

How could social commerce benefit your business?

As a business owner or marketer, you may be wondering why you should consider social commerce specifically as a way to boost your brand and your sales compared to the traditional e-commerce method of using your website. The social commerce world is hot at the moment and the list below demonstrates how extensive the benefits could be for your business:

Exposure to a wider audience

Social commerce allows users easy accessibility to share and recommend your brand and business in-app to hundreds of potential new customers with just one click. Once users begin associating with your business, your marketing campaigns and branding will show up more regularly in their feed and will increase the chances of them engaging and sharing. Shoppers will begin thinking about you automatically and soon traffic to your website and sharing will increase.

The Covid pandemic has also made social commerce a vital outlet for millions. With growth on platforms increasing substantially since 2019, and a demand unparalleled to previous years, an audience this size can only truly be accessed online.

Target users more organically

The majority of your audience is likely already using the platforms you select for your advertising campaigns and social commerce presence, creating a more organic and less intrusive relationship between your brand and your audience. It is a powerful way to mix business and pleasure.

So many younger audiences are now growing up with daily exposure to emerging social commerce options, so it’s crucial to consider how you target and market to this new wave of digital natives. Millennials and Gen Z (18 to 34 year olds) in particular will take advantage of social commerce outlets. Frankly, that’s too big a client base to ignore.

Streamlined shopping experience

Let’s face it, no one wants to find a product on social media, switch to another tab to load a website page before switching back to compare and then have to switch back again to complete a transaction (that was exhausting just writing it). It’s clunky, old fashioned and just unnecessary (like my description, I know). Using an in-app shopping feature is a much smoother, single process shopping experience that is convenient and preferable for your customers. Simply click on items, enter you payment details and buy. Simple!

Growth in brand awareness, engagement and sales

With any increase in exposure or engagement comes growth in your business. And with growth comes more opportunities to increase audience figures and sales. This is particularly key for smaller businesses who rely on sharing, good reviews and recommendations to sustain their business. Social commerce allows access to the continuous and reliable client base that is so crucial to the success of your business.

More opportunities with influencer marketing

Unless you are Nike or Coca-Cola, you probably won’t be scoring deals with celebrities for your digital marketing campaigns any time soon. But influencer marketing is now so much more than simply celebrities on social media; it’s an incredibly powerful addition to your overall strategy, especially when combined with social commerce. Depending on your budget, you can use micro-influencers who often have a smaller following but a better connection with their followers (i.e. better engagement rates) to effectively market your brand on social media.

As an example, users following their favourite influencer will see them promoting a product or brand on platforms like Instagram and can then select the item via a product tag. Immediately they are redirected in-app to the brand’s Shops page, where they can purchase the product there and then.

Summary

It’s clear that social commerce has moved beyond a mere evolution of e-commerce, and the online shopping culture via social media looks evermore likely to eclipse the traditional online retail methods. So remember:

Social commerce can provide you with greater exposure to a wider target audience you didn’t know you could reach, particularly Millenials and Gen Z (18-to-34 year olds).

Social media sites offering direct shopping experiences can also offer you greater engagement and marketing opportunities and boost your website traffic and e-word-of-mouth.

Users will expect a streamlined shopping experience, and social commerce offers this in a convenient, single process way.

Social commerce has massive growth potential for your business - the figures speak for themselves and that applies to sales as well as client base.

You can create more effective networking and marketing with influencer-based collaboration to help your business thrive in the world of social commerce.

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