How Social Media Impacts Consumer Purchasing

In 2014, Susan Philips put forward a revolutionary idea: In the very near future, consumers don’t need to search for products initiatively, instead, brands will find their target customers via social media.

Since most people shop on Google or Amazon at that time, Susan’s saying was unimaginable for consumers. If merchants wanted to increase online sales, they should focus on describing their products with more accurate words.

However, according to data recently revealed by Google, half of young users choose TikTok or Instagram rather than Google Map or search engines to find information.

Though finding information is still the main purpose for internet users, remarkable changes have taken place in search modes. Meanwhile, people pay less attention to researching products. From 2020, consumers who spend a lot of time on products before purchasing has decreased 8%, which had massive influences on online retailers.

Since 2018, finding new ideas or inspiration outperforms researching products and ranked 6 among people’s reasons for using the internet. Searching trends on Google also confirmed this phenomenon — more and more users are searching with key works like “Ideas” and “inspo”.

Such kind of mode is the product of TikTok, as well as the most important reason why it is so popular. Young users aged 16–24 were the ones who first used TikTok who attracted them with highly-personized algorithms and rich visual appeals.

Users who research products via social media have surged since 2015. Social media is a huge influence on consumers when they are attempting to build awareness about a particular product. When people face a problem, they start searching for a solution. But most of the times people do not know which product or service will solve their problems.

Generation Z likes shopping online much more and has higher interests in the community than Baby Boomers. Thus, if retailers want to get more young customers, it’s more important to stimulate their curiosity rather than show them the products simply. There is no doubt that social media like TikTok have captured the core.

Consumers in western countries who trust in online comments fell by 11% since 2020, while the younger group has higher recognition, which might be the reason why they tend to find products through weblogs and video media instead of traditional searching tools.

The persuasive visual contents of social media also laid a foundation for more real interactions for the ecommerce business. Take the fashion industry for example. Consumers may still have doubts about the plain test comments. Especially when they buy products at much lower prices, they may have concerns about quality. In this way, UGC (User Generated Content) plays an important role in demonstrating the real interaction, particularly the popular video content.

Data shows that 41% of Generation Z and Millennials shop online at a frequency of 2–3 weeks. However, TikTok broke this with a percentage of 48%. To motivate consumers to make orders earlier, it is especially important for retailers to better understand their consuming behaviors. On the one hand, businesses should adjust marketing strategies according to targeting consumers, since consumers at different ages usually have very different motivations for shopping.

Additionally, there are various factors that may result in impulsive purchasing by young consumers. For example, simple and fast checkout (34%) and the “Buy” button on social media surface (21%), which are popular among Generation Z and Millennials.

To thrive in the current social media era, businesses must not only adapt but also actively engage with evolving consumer behavior. Staying relevant to the changing trends and patterns in consumer behavior is one the most important aspects of business success.

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