Social Commerce (Still Loading)

Social Commerce. Marketers kicked 2022 off with high hopes for social commerce that were dampened by skepticism and slow starts as the year went on. While social (and live) buying is already a success in China and India, it has been slower to catch on in the West, where shoppers are hesitant to trust social buying apps and features.

At the same time, a wave of new integrations and updates may very well accelerate adoption internationally in 2023, presenting a new world of opportunities for marketers. Twitter Shops launched in March 2022. Weeks later, TikTok and Snapchat inched closer to full in-app shopping with announcements of their respective WooCommerce and eBay integrations.

By the end of summer, TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, YouTube, Pinterest, and Meta had all announced integrations, updates, or test features of their own aimed at making the customer journey from browsing social to check out that much faster. Notably, YouTube introduced shoppable shorts in June, and Meta rolled out in-chat purchases and payments for Instagram. Still, unexpected setbacks, such as the shutdown of Facebook live shopping in October, show that marketers still need to stay agile when it comes to investing in new channels.

Despite some pessimism over pace, social commerce is here to stay, with sales projected to hit $1.2 trillion (accounting for 16.7% of all e-commerce sales) by 2025.

As social platforms continue working to make in-app purchases easier throughout 2023, each update will allow marketers and brands to get creative with customer experiences as they capture impulse buys. And as more consumers make their first in-app purchases in 2023, building trust through social proof, influencer marketing, social customer service, and multi-channel purchase options will be even more crucial. Across markets, brands need to get creative with new platform features while emphasizing the legitimacy, value, and quality of in-app shopping.

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