eCommerce and social media have traditionally been kept separate. Social media was useful to promote a website, product or service but it just often didn’t amount to sales and conversions. In 2013 only 1.55% of all traffic to the top eCommerce sites came from social media platforms. But things are changing.
There are now estimates that social media will account for 5% of online sales in 2015 – while it might not seem like much the figure is anticipated to continue growing rapidly in the next few years.
‘Because of the increased use of social media on smartphones and social media’s involvement in retail sales, ‘social selling’ has become red hot. Anyone hoping to improve their online sales success must take advantage of emerging trends’ – Eddie Machaalani, co-Founder & co-SEO of Bigcommerce
Social media platforms are now generating awareness, increasing interest and even facilitating purchases directly. This new sales stream has been dubbed ‘social commerce’.
Common social commerce applications:
Peer to peer –connects the buyer and the seller for a mutual benefit. This strategy thrives on engagement and user participation.
Examples: AirBnB, Uber and eBay
Peer recommendations –product recommendations, product reviews and rewards for social sharing.
Examples: Amazon and Yelp
Group buying – collective buying platforms when reduced prices are obtained when a minimum number of buyers are reached.
Examples: Groupon and LivingSocial
User-curated shopping – taking personalised shopping online and using social media information to create shopping lists based on preferences, reviews and habits.
Examples: Pinterest and Etsy
Participatory commerce – when businesses can engage directly with interested parties to build a start-up business or to get a product to market (is also known as crowdsourcing or crowdfunding).
Examples: Kickstarter and FundMe
Social shopping – the most exciting of the social commerce options, allows customers to buy directly through the social media platform via a buy button while also making use of powerful engagement tools like chat functions, forums and commenting. Social shopping is being rolled out on the major social media platforms; Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram and Twitter right now.
To learn more about social commerce, social media and ecommerce contact the team at Website Design Centre.
