Big Social Commerce Updates, Small Business Benefits

Just when you thought Amazon’s ever-growing shop-opoly couldn’t be stopped, it was reported last month that Amazon’s social e-commerce play, Amazon Spark, is shutting down. As platforms are hustling to be at the forefront of social e-commerce, Amazon Spark is the first to go, claiming defeat as Snap, Pinterest, and Instagram remain in the fight… at least for now. This is a positive sign for small business retailers, as the social platforms provide more DTC opportunities, without having to give in to the threat of Amazon. As platforms battle it out for shoppable social, small business retailers can reap the rewards. So how do the shopping experiences across Snapchat, Instagram, and Pinterest shape up? 

Pinterest’s One-Stop-Shop

Pinterest announced on last month their new 3rd party e-commerce partnerships, enabling brands to optimize their social commerce experience, facilitating everything from setting up the e-commerce functionality to importing product catalogs to Pinterest, and even helping fulfilling orders. This is a great play for small business retailers, as Pinterest is establishing themselves as a one-stop-shop for small businesses setting up e-commerce.

Snap Goes In-App

Snapchat sees Pinterest’s “one-stop-shop” and raises it an in-app store. While Shopify has enabled Snapchat users to similarly shop directly through the platform, Snapchat is going one step further by allowing verified users to have shops directly in Snapchat. The catch… only very select accounts have access so far. That being said, it’s hard to believe that this won’t turn into a full roll-out as the potential for profit is high when bringing sales in-house. The fewer clicks to on the path to purchase, the better, especially for small business retailers working with limited budgets. And the fact that Snap currently isn’t taking a cut of the transactions is definitely a plus.

Instagram Copies Snap… Again

Instagram is not afraid to admit that social commerce is a high priority, and it seems they’ll do whatever it takes to lead the pack. It’s old news that Instagram likes stealing from Snapchat, as we’ve seen through the copy-cat Instagram Stories. Instagram’s “Checkout” feature is no exception, as it has a very similar model to the in-app stores Snap is providing, even to the point of targeting the same influencers (who can resist a Kardashian stamp of approval?). However, unlike Snapchat, Instagram does have a transaction fee for brands using Checkout. Small businesses leveraging social commerce should go in with eyes wide open at any potential fees that may come with the seamless experience… and can decide whether the price is worth it. Until “Checkout” becomes a more widely available feature and some of the details get hammered out, it may be worth sticking to the well-established shoppable posts that we’ve grown to know, love, and shop from.

Curveball: Facebook’s Potential Game Changing Update

While Facebook hasn’t been the flashiest in the social commerce game, focusing mostly on product catalogs linking to external destinations, Facebook’s latest announcement may be a game changer for social commerce: the release of its own cryptocurrency, Libra. While a Facebook currency has many implications, it will certainly change the conversation of social commerce, as this means not only potentially housing social commerce in one destination, but changing how the entire financing operation may end up working. For small business retailers who ultimately want to scale up sales globally, this may end up being an interesting solution. If the “masses” buy into this idea, and Libra becomes the common currency for Facebook commerce, those who don’t buy in may be left in the dust. While it’s very premature to consider this a real threat just yet, small businesses should definitely keep an eye on this one. While there’s some time to see how “Project Libra” unfolds, this could be the differentiator that takes you from small business sales to BIG business scale.