The way we shop has experienced dramatic transformation. The rise of social commerce overhauled how businesses connect with customers and how consumers discover and purchase products. This combination of social media and e-commerce has created seamless experience that changes the retailer’s landscape.
In this blog, we are going to bring light on what is social commerce and how it has evolved.
- What is Social Commerce?
- When did Social Commerce come into Existence?
- How has Social Commerce Evolved?
- Differentiate Between Social Commerce and E-commerce
- Key Platforms Driving the Growth of Social Commerce Today
- Challenges and Opportunities for Brands in the Era of Social Commerce
- Ending Note
- FAQ’s
What is Social Commerce?
Social Commerce is blend of social media and online shopping, where entire shopping experiences – from product discovery to checkout – take place directly within social media platforms. Customers can purchase products without being redirected to retailer site.
The main aim of social commerce is to increase traffic, and conversion rates, and make customer journeys easier by using social media platforms for shopping products. Some key benefits are using social commerce:
- UGC content is more trustworthy than ads.
- Increase brand loyalty among customers.
- Increases conversion and engagement rates.
- Opportunity for small brands to launch their product on social media.
- Drive sales through peer-to-peer recommendations.
When did Social Commerce Come into Existence?
Some people thought social commerce was relatively new. However, this concept came into existence in 2005 when Yahoo introduced its new online shopping tools like pick lists, user ratings, and content tagging.
The concept behind pick list is customers can list any product from Yahoo’s shopping catalog. A new wave of commerce came when Facebook and YouTube social media platforms were introduced. Facebook launched its marketplace and gave popularity to the term “social commerce”.
With the help of Facebook marketplace brands list their products and enable shopping capabilities for their customers to shop products within the platform. Stats show that over 1 billion people sell or buy products on Facebook marketplace.
How has Social Commerce Evolved?
Let’s have a look at evolution of social commerce and how they change the shopping perspective.
1. Early Days (2005-2006):
As we discussed above the term social commerce was introduced by Yahoo in 2005 with the launch of “shoposhere” and “pick lists” which allows users to share product recommendations and review.
2. Emergence of Social Shopping Start-ups (2006-2007):
Many online shopping startups like clip clip emerged and allow users to share and create shopping wishlists.
3. Integration Phase (2007-2009):
Facebook launched marketplace for its users to buy and sell users within community. After that in 2009, Facebook introduced “like” button to enhance user engagement and product recommendations.
4. Rise of influencer Marketing (2010-2015):
Instagram, Facebook, YouTube introduced features like product ads, and sponsored ads and opened the door for influencer marketing. Influencers play very important role in social media marketing to drive sales and traffic through social networking.
5. Modern Era (2015-Present):
During COVID-19 growth of social commerce goes on next level. Social media platforms like Tik-Tok, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube introduce shop features. Social Commerce become a one-stop shop for shopping and socializing.
Differentiate Between Social Commerce and E-commerce
| Differentiate | Social Commerce | E-commerce |
| 1. Platform& Integration | Social Commerce refers to buying and selling products through social media platforms like Facebook or Instagram. | E-commerce refers to the buying and selling of products in online stores. |
| 2. Control of Content | Social Commerce leverages content from social media platforms. The user-generated content is formed by influencer’s collaboration so the content is owned by other individuals. | The owner of the e-commerce store has full rights to control content. |
| 3. Checkout Procedure | Customers can purchase products through integrated shoppable content. | E-commerce website provides various pages to check out the product and redirect to the checkout page to fill all the required details of delivery and then purchase is complete |
| 4. Product Discovery | Customers buy products inspired by UGC from influencers. | On the other hand, customers have to visit e-commerce apps or websites to find products. |
| 5. Build Brand Awareness and Trust | Social commerce is based on real social content. Users didn’t want only visual content or reviews. Also need product inspiration to make them feel confident purchasing. | Trust is built through reviews or testimonials of customers. |
Key Platforms Driving the Growth of Social Commerce Today
Everyone knows 80% of the populace spends their free time on social media. It is no wonder that social networks are very powerful tools for driving sales and generating revenue.
Do you know 67% of online shoppers shop for their favorite products through social media platforms by inspired by influencers they follow.
Check this chart below on how social media platforms become the reason for growth of social commerce.
Here are the four most popular social media platforms driving the growth of social commerce today.
Facebook is one of the leading platforms of social commerce. 47% of online shoppers make purchases through Facebook. Meta dominates social commerce with its four integrated platforms: Facebook, Messenger, WhatsApp, and Instagram. Establishing your business presence on Facebook will make it easier to expand to the rest of Meta’s platforms.
TikTok
40% of TikTok users have bought products from TikTok shop. It can engage users with short videos contributing to its success in spontaneous purchase. Users can easily make purchases without leaving the app. TikTok is great opportunity for small brands to drive sale and generate revenue.
Another one of the most important leading social media platforms is Instagram. In the last six months, 25% of online shoppers bought products from Instagram.
Instagram has the power to showcase products through short videos and photos. Mostly younger generation preferred this platform to shop. Brands collaborate with social media influencers to generate sales and revenue by using social media platforms.
Most people think Pinterest is just about images or video recommendations. But it plays very important role in social commerce. It is mainly used to create boards and save new ideas and new trends. Shoppers used Pinterest to find new product ideas
Pinterest provides businesses way to quickly establish themselves in customer’s minds before their brand name becomes well known.
Challenges and Opportunities for Brands in the Era of Social Commerce
Social commerce creates huge wave in the e-commerce industry. Now online shopping has become part of our lives. Social commerce presents both exciting opportunities and significant challenges for brands. Let’s check out at some key aspects:
Opportunities-
1. Increase Brand Awareness:
Social media platforms give chance to brands to reach wider audience and generate revenue from social media because social media platforms have huge user base.
2. Enhanced Customer Engagement:
Building strong customer relationships and providing personalized shopping experiences to customers through social media platforms.
3. Valuable Customer Insights:
Providing valuable data based on customer preferences and behavior helps brands in marketing strategies.
4. UGC Content:
User generating content is powerful way to engage with customers through social media platforms. Helpful in establishing customer trust in the brand and increasing engagement rates.
5. Efficient Shopping Experience:
Social media platforms make it easy for customers to purchase directly from social media apps without redirecting to the retailer website.
Challenges-
1. Maintaining Authenticity:
Generating genuine and reliable content on social media may become challenge for brands. Always ensure that the message is relatable to the user.
2. Brand Reputation Management:
Maintaining an online marketing brand reputation is difficult for brands because negative feedback goes viral quickly.
3. Regulatory Compliance:
Regulating different compliance on different social media platforms is difficult task for brands.
4. Social Algorithms:
Social media algorithms are changing constantly so maintaining authenticity with social algorithms is hard for brands.
5. Adapting to Rapid Changes:
Social media trends change very fast. Adapting new trends and technology is required for brands to stay on social media.
Ending Note
Social commerce reflects the future of retail combining the best aspects of social media and e-commerce. As technology continues to evolve and consumer behaviors shift toward more integrated shopping experiences, businesses that embrace social commerce will have significant advantage in the digital marketplace. The key to success lies in understanding platform specific opportunities, maintaining authentic connections with customers, and staying adaptable to changing trends in online marketing and social networks.
I hope this helps! Feel free to let us know if you need anything else.
FAQ’s
Q1. Why social commerce is important?
Ans Social commerce makes online shopping easy for users by allowing quick purchase from social media platforms without redirect to website.
Q2 Why social commerce is the future of online selling?
Ans Social media platforms engaged with audience through likes, shares, and comments. Business can better reach their audience and drive sale by switching into social commerce.
Q3 How does social commerce work?
Ans Buying and selling products directly from social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram. It is a combination of e commerce and social media.
Q4 How can small businesses benefit from social commerce?
Ans Providing right content at right time to their potential audience benefits small brands to drive sales and generate more revenue through social commerce.
