Social commerce is the latest storefront. It offers the opportunity to create a seamless shoppable experience for the people straight within the app while catching up with their friends and family, and consuming related content and discovering their preferred brands, products and services. Namely, Social commerce is the use of social engagement to create commerce transactions. The result is a more engaging customer experience that removes friction and increases revenue.
Social commerce is the next wave of online is shopping and all set to lead the future of e-commerce. This new market is expanding bigger and brighter than ever. Integrating e-commerce with social media, Social Commerce, is the future of online Shopping. According to Statista, the social commerce market is expected to grow worldwide to over $3 trillion USD in the next eight years.
Millennial and Generation Zs has now become the dominant and majority share of consumers and clearly will be for the upcoming years. Shopping via social media is simply became a natural organic extension to their daily routines as these consumers are digital natives who grew up on social media. Therefore, Social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and TikTok have introduced Shops as native extensions to their platforms to anticipate this growing trend. In fact, 27% of global internet users rely on social media to find products to purchase. (GWI, 2020). And over 55% of social media users in the US aged 18 to 24 made at least one purchase through social channels, followed by users aged 25-34 years old. (Statista, 2021). As the influence of these platforms grows on millennial and Generation Zs consumers, the importance of social media commerce will increase.
“Social commerce encourages people to connect with a business through two-way communication. This allows customers to not only engage with your business but also gives them the opportunity to use social media as an efficient customer service channel. The most effective and cutting-edge trend of social commerce is Live Shopping while combining technological advancement of Live streaming and social media channels with the familiar nostalgic concept of at-home shopping” said Mrs. Ayrin Islam
Live shopping or live stream shopping, is quickly being adopted by leading global B2C brands to deliver one-to-one and one-to-many personalized shopping over video between sales associates and consumers. Live Shopping opens a new world of possibilities for brands to be able to connect with buyers on an emotional level, promptly, to significantly drive sales. Video shopping is almost like the shopping mall experience, but taking place entirely on social media, with friends also being able to participate in a truly social experience including 360-degree product visualizations and real-time customer service with a virtual agent that offers helpful information to guide shoppers to purchase.
When viewers join a live shopping session, they can participate in the running commentary about whatever they’re seeing, so there’s immediate interaction. The fact is when viewers are in that moment, watching live content, they have an emotional reaction and this reaction is important for the brands as audiences are more likely to purchase from a brand that they have an emotional connection with. Simply put, Live streaming with virtual store give buyers the opportunity to interact with Virtual Agent in real-time, and experience the products in ways that lead to quicker purchase decisions while empowering Real-time 2-way communication. For instance, 70% of internet users in the US who regularly watched live streams led by influencers said they were likely to buy products recommended by the influencers. (Insider Intelligence, 2021)
Similarly, new social commerce also includes the notion of personalized service through Live streaming. These virtual agents are like in-store product specialists, stylists, or shop clerks who can instantly answer questions, share the latest offers, or recommend additional products with the consumer.
With alluring popularity and an ever-growing user base, social media integrated with shopping facilities or social commerce platforms are here to stay. Therefore, given the power and reach of the shared community networks, businesses cannot afford to disregard them. Henceforth, to keep up with the trend, companies must have to distribute an exclusive budget to meet their social commerce marketing strategies, as they are driving massive sales through their huge active daily and monthly users. Similarly, Platforms should also respond with trends to grab the existing and future social commerce opportunities by adding novelties and product updates.
Ayrin Islam, based in Montreal, Canada, is the Co-founder and CEO of RingID, a social networking Platform that Combines Social Networking, Social Commerce & Financial Service into one seamless experience. With a keen interest in cutting-edge technology and a Bachelor’s degree in Finance, she started her first business fresh out of university. Being the woman in charge of other established technology businesses, she has the competency of following the latest trends in the global tech industry and evaluating it by her own skilled interpretations. This has led to many key realizations from time to time and ringID was the result of one of them.
South Asia focused; ringID is the world’s first Community Social Network, empowering livelihoods of millions, who’ve been waiting for a shot at independence and success. ringID is building the next-generation platform for Social Commerce — powered by fintech, allowing consumers to access services more rapidly & responsibly, empowering merchants to grow and e-commerce to thrive, and creating earnings opportunities for millions of young adults. Through ringID, about 1 million+ users are actively earning and making a living from the ecosystem utilizing their existing skills and knowledge.
Media Contact: Prysma Medias London – Catalina Correa.
