Is Social Commerce Important for Brands?

E-commerce refers to a shopping experience via a website or dedicated branded app. Alternatively, Social Commerce (or S-commerce) is the process of selling products through social media. In short, it allows customers to make their purchases from their social media environments without the need to go to the seller’s own e-commerce environment. So, with S-commerce, the entire shopping experience, from product discovery and research to the check-out process, occurs right on a social media platform. According to ResearchAndMarkets.com, S-commerce is already an $89.4 billion market right now. It is projected to grow to $604.5 billion in the next seven years. Currently, social apps that support this headless process are Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and Pinterest.

Best platforms for social commerce?

S-commerce makes shopping a social media experience. Shopping on social media makes the experience much more context-driven. For brands that target Millennials and Gen Z who miss the social aspect of a day shopping during the COVID-19 pandemic, S-commerce an alternative. At the moment, only a few of the top social platforms offer it:

• Facebook Shops: Next to a Facebook Business Page, you can Set up a Facebook Shop. Facebook Shops are customizable. Choose which collections or goods to feature, and customize the fonts, images, and colors to suit your brand.
• Instagram Shops: 60% of people discover new products on Instagram. A brand’s products should be among them. Instagram Shops allows users to buy products featured in a user’s photos and videos from anywhere in the app.
• TikTok: It is one of the world’s fastest-growing entertainment platforms. TikTok announced a partnership with the e-commerce platform Shopify. Once a user connects to a TikTok for Business account with a Shopify account, everyone can and sell products on TikTok via in-feed shoppable video ads.

To start successfully, firstly engage with your followers. Secondly, listen to your audience. Finally, encourage reviews. It is expected that brands will be able to tap into younger audiences. However, they also have to adapt their content to each platform. And last but not least, short video content advertising will become even more important. Icecat content is available for these platforms via Shopify, other platforms, and direct connections.

So, to conclude is S-commerce important for brands? I would say: yes! S-commerce is at least important for brands to increase brand awareness and to get direct feedback from key audiences.