Social commerce -- selling products or services on social media platforms -- is a marketing tactic that can boost retail revenue with relatively little effort without overly adding to the advertising spend.
This new retail strategy is attracting the attention of marketers. Social shopping grew 35 percent last year, with U.S. sales reaching about $38 billion. Market watchers expect that number to reach or exceed $50 billion by 2023.
Tapping into social commerce gives brands the ability to reach new audiences on platforms consumers already use and trust. Retailers find the social media outlets a no-brainer for direct selling because it streamlines the sales process and exposes brands to new purchases without having potential buyers leave the platform.
E-Commerce Times > Social Media > Social Media Marketing | Next Article in Social Media Marketing
EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW
Social Platforms Now Central in the Commerce Spectrum
By Jack M. Germain
Apr 8, 2021 5:00 AM PT
why social media platforms are in the middle of the e-commerce process
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Social commerce -- selling products or services on social media platforms -- is a marketing tactic that can boost retail revenue with relatively little effort without overly adding to the advertising spend.
This new retail strategy is attracting the attention of marketers. Social shopping grew 35 percent last year, with U.S. sales reaching about $38 billion. Market watchers expect that number to reach or exceed $50 billion by 2023.
Tapping into social commerce gives brands the ability to reach new audiences on platforms consumers already use and trust. Retailers find the social media outlets a no-brainer for direct selling because it streamlines the sales process and exposes brands to new purchases without having potential buyers leave the platform.
The trend of selling products directly from social platforms is being driven in part by shifts in users buying habits. Consumers for years used social media as an easy way to window shop. Similarly, retailers relied on social platforms to build awareness, community, trust, and influence.
Ultimately, retailers used e-commerce sites such as Amazon, Walmart, or Shopify to sell their wares; because shoppers jumped from window shopping as a social platform sideline over to those e-commerce sites to fill their digital shopping carts.
Now, consumers and marketers alike see social media outlets as a middle ground between selling and buying. Consumers have grown used to seeing product placements and promotions on social media. So it is a natural next step for them to want to shop without going to another platform or branded website, suggested Callum Campbell, CEO of enterprise commerce automation company Linnworks.
"The primary force driving commerce's whole move to social media commerce is what we call the rise of the effortless economy. Essentially, what we are seeing is that commerce is moving closer and closer to consumers.
"It is becoming increasingly easy for consumers to purchase. That is happening because it is moving where their purchasing is happening. That is where we're spending our time," he told the E-Commerce Times.
The history of commerce shows a time when people had to leave their homes to buy a product. That changed when Internet technology advanced. Now people no longer leave their homes to shop.
Of course, the pandemic pushed in that direction. But it did not create the need. It merely facilitated the necessity.
