A New Way of Shopping with Social Commerce
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Over the years, our mobile phones have become a necessity in our lives, and social media is intertwined with our daily life. The likes of Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and XiaoHongShu have daily users that scroll through their feeds at any given time. With the rise of online shopping during COVID-19 and the rise of expectations that customers have with their experience of shopping, it is no surprise that this year, the rise of Social Commerce will take place.
Social commerce is a segment of eCommerce in which merchants sell products directly through social media platforms, allowing potential customers to interact with brands, browse goods and make purchases.?
The ability to be able to make purchases directly from your favorite social media platform makes the experience even more seamless and also, visual!
1. Social Commerce vs eCommerce
Although both Social Commerce and eCommerce fall under the same umbrella, there are still differences in what is fundamental. When we are shopping online and interact directly with a brand's website to shop their products, that is eCommerce. Consumers can access eCommerce websites through desktop and mobile but not every single eCommerce website is mobile-friendly. This is where Social Commerce makes a difference and creates a new form of online shopping.
Social Commerce brings the store experience to consumers on whichever platform they are using. Consumers are able to complete the whole customer journey from their social media platform without the hassle of going to a non-optimized website using their phones. This takes out all the unnecessary steps and creates a more frictionless journey for the customer. Many platforms, such as Instagram, Facebook, and Snapchat have already implemented this and allow their consumers to purchase the products they want directly on their platform.
If you want to read into more detail about the differences between Social Commerce and eCommerce, find the full article here: Social Commerce vs eCommerce: What Are The Differences?
2. Why is Social Commerce Needed?
There are numerous benefits for brands to start doing Social Commerce. The increase in Brand Awareness is significant. This is due to the integration of both your social media and eCommerce capabilities. Through platforms like Instagram, a key way to build brand awareness is through influencer marketing.
The use of influencers to showcase their lifestyle through social media platforms has helped brands reach their target audiences. Here is an example of a video of a clothes haul that an influencer filmed:
Although YouTube hasn't formed its Social Commerce strategy yet, if influencers are able to link the pieces of clothing that they want to promote in the video description, it won't be long until consumers can directly purchase those items on the YouTube platform. The ability to purchase items through social media platforms is already present, but some social media channels are still developing their Social Commerce strategy. With over 3.6 billion social media users currently, this number is expected to reach 4.4 billion by 2025.
It is not just influencers that will be able to boost your sales, but rather social proof on these platforms as well. Consumers will be able to look at the comments and likes that other users give so you are able to grasp a better idea of how the items are reviewed with the general public as well.
After the review of the items on social media, the ability to be able to purchase the item straight from the platform reduces any unnecessary steps. Any added steps in the sales funnel will give consumers a chance to abandon their purchases. Social Commerce is able to reduce those chances.
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Read more about the benefits of Social Commerce here: Social Commerce 101: How to Boost eCommerce Sales Using Social Media Platforms
3. Visual is Always Better
Not only does Social Commerce ease the process of buying beloved items, but consumers are also able to look at items worn by their favorite influencers to deduce whether they will purchase particular items. The visual element of Social Commerce is able to help push more sales and uplift your revenue.
Social Commerce is great for smaller businesses that have a presence on social media. This way, brands will have more awareness from social media users and showcase their products more visually. Merging both retail and social opens up more opportunities for brands to upsell their products from different channels.
Although the evolution and development of Social Commerce are not fully mature yet, the ability to buy products directly from social channels will be able to open up more visual solutions so that the process to discover items will become easier.
Pinterest's Visual Search is one example, users are able to find clothing, furniture, or jewellery items just by searching by an image and purchasing directly from Pinterest. In fact, the usage of Pinterest shopping tools increased by a whopping 350% in 2020. We will only see the expansion of Visual Search mechanisms on different channels if it is seen to uplift the revenue and conversions for brands of all kinds.
Delvify's Visual Search solutions are able to help take the first big step for you to be part of the Visual Age of eCommerce. By implementing Delvify's Visual Search and Recommendations on your website, you will see an uplift in sales as users are able to find the items they want faster and more seamlessly.
Read more here: Pinterest Doubles Down on Social Commerce
We have included a few more articles for you to understand more about Social Commerce and some tips to be successful with it as well:
Social Commerce looks like it is here to stay and will only develop more features as more consumers are looking towards social channels to make purchases. We can only keep our eyes peeled to see how the largest social media channels will be more focused on visual solutions and make the customer journey as seamless as possible.
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