The Rise of Social Commerce: How Instagram and Facebook are Revolutionizing Online Shopping

As e-commerce and social media continue to evolve, brands must adapt by showing up on the platforms where their customers spend the most time and expect to shop. With social media users spending an average of 2 hours and 27 minutes per day online, it's no surprise that more brands are focusing their marketing efforts on social commerce. This means that brands are recognizing the need to be present on the platforms where their customers spend most of their time, and that customers prefer to shop on social platforms.

Social commerce, which provides a fully integrated social shopping experience on digital channels from product discovery to check-out, is rapidly becoming a relevant subset of e-commerce. This trend was not triggered by the pandemic and stay-at-home orders, but it was certainly accelerated by them. This article aims to explore some of the fundamental aspects associated with social commerce, including where this trend is coming from, why it is gaining relevance globally, who is shopping on social platforms, and what it all means for marketing and sales.

The People-Powered Retail Revolution: Understanding Social Commerce

Social commerce is a game-changing approach to driving ecommerce transactions, using social media as the primary means of engagement. In the past, this typically involved leveraging paid, owned, and earned media to boost visibility and direct traffic towards an ecommerce store. However, social media platforms have since evolved to include the ability to purchase products within the app itself.

The future is now. In 2019, Facebook introduced Checkout, allowing users to shop directly within Instagram (although it's not yet available in Australia). Snapchat and TikTok are also planning to release similar capabilities in the near future.

This shift towards social commerce has completely changed the retail landscape, giving people the power to make informed purchasing decisions and connecting them with brands they can trust. Rather than being a faceless transactional experience, social commerce allows for authentic social connections to be made and nurtured, creating a people-powered retail revolution that seamlessly integrates social experiences and ecommerce transactions on a single digital platform.

The Rise of Social Commerce: How Instagram is Revolutionizing Online Shopping

Instagram has become a game-changer in the world of ecommerce, with over 1 billion monthly active users and a shoppable post feature that allows customers to purchase products directly from the app. But why should businesses be selling on Instagram, and how does social commerce work on the platform?

Why You Should Sell on Instagram

Instagram has quickly become one of the most popular social media platforms for discovering new products and making purchases. With 70% of "shopping enthusiasts" using the platform to find new items, and 87% of users being inspired to make a purchase after seeing an influencer post, the potential market is enormous.

But it's not just the potential customer base that makes Instagram an ideal platform for businesses. The platform also offers a range of innovative tools and features that streamline the customer journey and make it easy for brands to promote and sell their products. In other words, shoppers are using Instagram to find products, and these products are selling.

How Social Commerce Works on Instagram

Instagram has transformed from a social media platform into a digital store, offering a range of tools that make it easier than ever to catalog, market, and sell products all in one place. Some of these tools include:

Shoppable posts: Allows users to shop by clicking a link in your post, with over 130 million users doing so monthly.

Shoppable stories: Lets you tag products in your Instagram stories so customers can shop directly from your content.

Product stickers: Clickable shopping stickers you can add to stories.

Explore tab shopping: Lets users shop directly from the Explore tab in their Instagram apps.

IGTV shopping: Lets you tag products for customers to click and shop.

Instagram reels shopping: Lets you create reels with tagged products and shoppable links.

How Facebook is Changing the Game of Online Shopping

Facebook has become a force to be reckoned with in the world of social commerce, with its various features and tools for businesses to sell products and connect with customers. And with the recent announcement of new features for Facebook Shops, including expansions to WhatsApp and Marketplace, the platform is aiming to take on giants like Amazon in the e-commerce space.

Personalization and Recommendation Systems

One of Facebook's strengths is its ability to personalize the shopping experience for users. By using data on user preferences and shopping history, Facebook's ad system can recommend products and shops that are tailored to individual users' tastes. This system is constantly evolving and improving, making shopping on Facebook a more personalized and enjoyable experience.

The Future of Shopping with AR and AI

Facebook is also exploring the potential of augmented reality (AR) and artificial intelligence (AI) in the shopping experience. Visual discovery tools on Instagram use these technologies to help shoppers find and visualize new products. The aim is to make the shopping experience more interactive and engaging, allowing users to start a visual search simply by snapping a picture of a product that interests them.

Can Facebook Overtake Amazon?

While Facebook's expansion into the online shopping space is exciting, it remains to be seen whether it can truly challenge Amazon's dominance. However, Facebook's suite of ideas and tools for social commerce offer a new and innovative way for businesses to sell products and connect with customers.

In conclusion, social commerce is on the rise, and Instagram and Facebook are leading the way in revolutionizing online shopping. With their innovative features like shoppable posts, Facebook Shops, and Instagram Explore tab shopping, these platforms have made it easier than ever for businesses to connect with customers and sell their products directly through social media. Moreover, the personalized shopping experience through AI and AR tools has given consumers a more immersive and engaging shopping experience. With the continuous developments in the field, the future of social commerce looks bright, and businesses that embrace this trend will undoubtedly see the benefits. As social media platforms continue to expand their offerings and integrate with e-commerce, we can expect to see more exciting developments in social commerce in the coming years.