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What Are The Social Commerce Trends In 2022?

What Are The Social Commerce Trends In 2022?

14th April 2022
15 Minute Read

Social media marketing is an almighty tool that should be implemented by online businesses who are looking to utilise social commerce to their advantage.

Madeleine

Written by Madeleine

14th April 2022
15 Minute Read

If you’re looking to reach a large number of consumers within your store’s target demographic by utilising the world’s latest social commerce trends, you should know that there are very few resources available to online businesses that are more powerful than social media.

With more than half of the world's population currently active on platforms such as Instagram and Facebook, the majority of users log on at least once a day.

As a result, figures like this indicate that social media marketing still has a lot of promise to offer online businesses in terms of ROI in 2022.

Therefore, social media marketing is an almighty tool that should be implemented by online businesses that are looking to utilise social commerce to their advantage.

However, increasing sales on social media will have its own set of obstacles and one of which will be to encourage your store’s followers to leave a social network and visit its ecommerce website.

Nonetheless, thanks to rapidly rising social commerce trends, this may no longer be such a daunting task for merchants.

Quick Answer

For those who are unfamiliar with social commerce, it is a method that combines both ecommerce and social networking.

Simply put, social commerce in its most basic form occurs when businesses, brands and creators sell directly through sales channels, via their social media account(s) or in the feed of their followers.

In light of these current social commerce trends, popular networking platforms have introduced; shoppable posts, on-site stores and dedicated checkout functionalities to their platforms.

As a result, these alterations to the platform’s capabilities enable consumers to discover new products and brands whilst purchasing products without leaving the social network they are browsing.

Want to know more? Stick with us to discover the complete scope of the most influential commerce trends and tools implemented by online businesses in 2022.

While social commerce trends are still in their early stages, one thing is certain - they are extremely profitable for online businesses.

According to Statista, social commerce generated $475 billion in revenue in 2020 and this figure is expected to grow at a rate of 28.4% per year until 2028 when it is predicted to reach $3.37 trillion.

Therefore, this is just one of the reasons why understanding social commerce trends and tools can be so profitable.

However, social commerce isn’t exactly a new concept as the term can be traced back to 2005, when David Beisel, the Co-Founder and Partner at NextView Ventures stated:

“When a product is directly integrated into becoming content itself, it bypasses the normal filter that consumers put up to ignore or at least be sceptical of the advertising.
So, when this advertorial content is generated by a friend, a special element of trust is integrated into the advertorial relationship that wasn’t present otherwise.”

The Benefits of Social Commerce

Social commerce has numerous advantages over traditional commerce as it permits businesses to meet their target audience on their territory.

So, here's why it should be a component of your store’s social media marketing strategy:

N0.1: Less Checkout Friction 🛒

Social media is utilised in traditional ecommerce to attract visitors to check out an online store where customers can purchase products of their choosing. While this approach has the potential to work, the friction it produces during the checkout process is a major impediment.

With this traditional method, users must stop what they are doing, visit an external site and return to where they left off to complete the transaction.

This technique may not appear to be difficult, but the effort required is sufficient enough for many consumers to avoid.

However, when merchants integrate social commerce capabilities within their social media profiles, that friction is considerably reduced, as users who come across your content will already have everything they need to make a purchase.

N0.2: Driven Social Media Engagement

The next benefit for social commerce 2022, surrounds the social media engagement that can be driven for your business while generating sales.

An effective social media marketing strategy must be able to reach new audiences while maintaining solid relationships with existing customers.

However, with smart social commerce at the heart of a business, online stores can engage with both of these audiences at the same time.

Furthermore, social media posts aimed at raising brand awareness can also include purchasing choices for those who are still debating whether or not to buy.

It should be noted that customers may tumble through the marketing funnel a little faster than usual as a result of this dynamic.

However, those who have just discovered your brand may have all the information they need to decide whether or not your product is worth buying if awareness, consideration and conversion all occur in the same place.

N0.3: The Growing Social Commerce Market 📈

Finding your target market is a breeze when you group social network users by their; following, likes, or interests. However, if you're not employing social commerce capabilities, you're probably missing out on a lot of sales.

Since 2019, the number of people who say they've bought something on social media has increased and this tendency is predicted to continue as users become more comfortable with social shopping.

Around 37% of Americans will have purchased on social media by 2025, according to estimates and the ability to buy directly on social media will become less extravagant and more of an expectation as more brands implement social commerce into their marketing strategy.

Therefore, it would seem as though adopting social commerce into the heart of your business in 2022 will put your brand in a greater position to stay ahead of the curve and avoid being left behind in the future.

N0.4: Sell and Generate Social Proof

When it comes to purchasing decisions, social proof is a psychological phenomenon that describes our predisposition to rely on the opinions of others.

Product reviews, customer testimonials, case studies, public praise, or even awareness of a product's popularity are all examples of social proof in ecommerce.

You've probably experienced the power of social proof if you've ever seen a movie or TV show just because everyone appears to be talking about it online.

For many users, social media is their first point of contact, making highly visible social proof a crucial tool for gaining followers and growing an audience for your business.

Therefore, when you sell through social commerce, social proof becomes a useful tool for generating sales and we’d highly recommend encouraging buyers to post photos or videos of their purchases on social media to generate more buzz around your business.

N0.5: Accommodate the Growing Number of Mobile Shoppers 📱

The number of mobile ecommerce sales reached $359 billion in 2021, which is reported as a 15.2% increase from 2020. By 2025, industry experts have estimated that mobile ecommerce sales will account for 44.2% of retail ecommerce sales within the US alone.

As online consumers warm up to the idea of shopping on their mobile and social media networks continue to adopt more tools to help facilitate these social commerce trends, an easy-to-use mobile-ready storefront will become more and more crucial to the success of any online retailer.

You might be thinking - I have a responsive, mobile-friendly Shopify theme that makes the checkout process a breeze.

So, why should you implement social commerce into your marketing strategy? Well, the fact is that most sales are not happening in browsers. Instead, they are taking place within social media apps.

According to eMarketer, mobile users spend roughly 88% of their time exploring the internet using social networking apps rather than mobile browsers.

So, even if you do have a beautiful ecommerce site, without social commerce as your strategy, you'll be missing out on sales from visitors who won't see it.

Social commerce features are intended by social media developers to work fluidly and are algorithmically geared to find consumers who are more likely to be interested in your products.

Therefore, even though nothing ensures that consumers would buy from your business, it's difficult to imagine a scenario in which social commerce does not give your store a significant advantage.

social commerce trends (2)

The Best Social Commerce Platforms for Retailers

With nearly every major social media platform investing in social commerce features, retailers have a lot of options when it comes to which tools they want to use to sell online.

If you’re looking to get started selling through social commerce, here are the best platforms to explore:

N0.1: Facebook 💻

Facebook is an excellent alternative for organisations trying to reach a larger worldwide audience, with roughly three billion active members.

Therefore, incorporating social commerce into your Facebook ad strategy can help you to capture impulse sales from individuals who would otherwise engage with your content without making a purchase.

Businesses may use Facebook Shops to establish their unique storefront on their Facebook page and customers can explore products in their Shop tab, which displays products tailored to their prior purchases, search history and likes.

This results in a personalised customer experience that seeks to match your products with users who are most likely to buy them from your business.

Additionally, you will be able to contact customers directly through Facebook Messenger, providing your team with more control over the business.

Note: Shopify products can be directly imported into your Facebook shop, as Meta owns both Facebook and Instagram, so stores on both networks can be connected.

N0.2: Instagram

Dedicated storefronts and product tags allow merchants to highlight items from their catalogue within grid posts and advertising materials.

Separately, the Shop tab can be used to improve product discovery for viewers who might be interested in just a few of the platform’s shopping features.

Furthermore, users of Instagram shopping can browse products from several businesses immediately from the Shop tab on the app's bottom taskbar, just like they can with Facebook shops.

Additionally, the app’s users are given brands and goods based on their; interests, follows, likes and previous purchases so that your store’s products have a decent possibility of being presented to those who are interested in buying them.

In nutshell, Instagram as a platform is all about visual branding, therefore it's ideal for businesses in a variety of fields to implement this marketing channel into their social commerce 2022 plan.

N0.3: Pinterest 📌

You're probably missing out on a lot of sales if your Pinterest marketing approach doesn't involve social commerce. On other social networking platforms, social commerce is a bonus, but on Pinterest, it's a requirement.

Pinterest is unlike any other social media network in that it attracts a large number of users who rely on it to shop.

In an eMarketer poll, 48% of respondents said buying was their primary social media activity on Pinterest, greatly outnumbering other social media platforms.

These figures suggest that Pinterest has a disproportionately large number of users interested in discovering and purchasing new things, making it one of the smartest marketing locations when it comes to implementing social commerce trends.

Note: Pinterest is very popular for fashion and home décor products, so if your business is in one of these industries, it's a wonderful place to start.

Simply add the Pinterest app to your online store to begin using Pinterest’s buyable pins.

N0.4: TikTok

TikTok has more than 732 million users worldwide and is mostly oriented toward younger audiences, with 62% of its users being between the ages of 10 and 29.

However, TikTok shopping is currently limited to Shopify, so you'll need to set up your store before you can utilise TikTok's shopping services.

To make the most of this social commerce 2022 functionality, products are retrieved directly from your store on Shopify for a fast setup when you join and install the TikTok Shopify app.

In a nutshell, TikTok shopping enables retailers to tag products in both organic and paid TikTok advertising, making it simple for customers to go from viewing your product to purchasing it.

Note: By adding a Shopping link to a TikTok profile, creators can also sell straight to their followers.

The Future of Ecommerce Is Social 🔮

While many ecommerce trends come and go, social commerce trends are here to stay.

In a nutshell, with social commerce 2022 trends, consumers expect a frictionless process when purchasing goods at the moment of discovery, as social media platforms continue to develop new ways to incorporate social shopping into their foundations.

For small businesses, social commerce provides a level of consumer access that enables users to get on an equal footing with larger companies.

As a result, experimenting with social commerce methods now could help you to scale your business later. So, what are you waiting for? It’s time to make your mark with social commerce.

What are your thoughts on our guide to the leading social commerce trends and tools in 2022? Reach out and let us know.

If you’re actively looking to work with a Shopify agency designer or developer to assist you with your business, we’d love to hear from you. Get in touch to get started!

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