In today’s retail world, scrolling is the new strolling. Once upon a time, consumers used to walk through shopping malls and down the high street, spotting things they wanted to buy. These days, those moments happen online – mainly on social media platforms.
Known as ‘social commerce’, this phenomenon is fast taking over the ecommerce space. Global sales through social media platforms were estimated at 992 billion U.S. dollars in 2022 and forecasts suggest that the value of social commerce sales will reach around 2.9 trillion U.S. dollars by 2026.
As a leading social ecommerce fulfilment provider, our team of tech experts here wanted to share some more information on the basics, to help your ecommerce business learn more about the massive growth opportunities social commerce presents…
What is social commerce?
In nutshell, social commerce describes the sale of goods on social media. From initial product discovery to checkout, the entire customer journey happens on the same social platform. Key elements of the sales funnel such as awareness, inspiration, engagement, referrals (via shares), reviews, purchase and validation exist in one space, resulting in one incredibly powerful sales opportunity.
Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok now make it easier than ever for ecommerce brands from all sectors to sell their products to their customers, directly through their social media feed, or via those of key influencers.
Social commerce and ecommerce are not the same. The ecommerce purchasing experience takes place on a website or branded app. In contrast, with social commerce, there’s no requirement for a brand to have their own ecommerce site to get set up with social media platforms’ native selling tools. However, a website is recommended because of the other benefits it offers.
An encounter between a consumer and a brand that happens on an ecommerce platform relies on more action from the buyer, whereas a social commerce interaction engages a ‘passive’ audience for easier conversion.
Who shops via social commerce? Key demographics and sectors
Social commerce is growing so rapidly because it blends so seamlessly into the virtual world of the twenty-first century consumer. According to Shopify, the social commerce boom is happening because social media usage is at an all-time high.
Research shows the typical social media user now spends about 15% of their waking life on social platforms, with 10% of US adults having an addiction to at least one app.
Shopify also reports that TikTok’s Gen Z and millennials are the most likely social network users to have made at least one purchase via a social channel. This audience is suspicious of traditional advertising and marketing, so brands with a younger demographic must create a social commerce sales strategy to remain competitive.
The beauty sector predominates the social media commerce space. A study commissioned by Cosmetic Executive Women found that only half of beauty consumers have a specific retailer or brand in mind when looking for purchasing inspiration, making them a captive audience on social media.
Kylie Jenner's store, Kylie Cosmetics, was one of the first to let their customers shop directly on TikTok. With over 3.5 million TikTok followers at the time, Jenner saw the enormous potential to sell directly to her fans. Her cosmetics empire is reported to be worth around $1 billion in 2023, so it looks like she was onto something good…
How does social commerce work – and where does social commerce fulfilment fit in?
TikTok, Facebook, Instagram and Facebook have built-in social commerce features.
TikTokWhen a business sets up TikTok Shopping, it will have a dedicated shopping tab on its profile. This allows followers/potential customers to see products featured within TikTok and simply add them to cart in one click.
Here at Fullers Fulfilment, the Warehouse Management System (WMS) we use syncs with all the leading ecommerce platforms (Shopify, WooCommerce, Magento etc) and is powered by Mintsoft, the industry-leading fulfilment software.
Mintsoft connects with TikTok to allow seamless integration. Orders automatically pull through from TikTok to our WMS, which enables Fullers to fulfil your brand’s TikTok shop orders quickly and efficiently, with as much speed, accuracy, and ease as any other order.
Instagram44% of people surveyed by @instagramforbusiness said they shop on Instagram on a weekly basis, using features like shopping tags and the ‘Shop’ tab.
Instagram Shops let users buy products shown in images and videos across the app. Business accounts can curate and showcase their products through a customisable virtual storefront. Each item in an Instagram Shop catalogue gets its own page, including description, images/videos, and price.
Top social commerce features on Instagram include the ability for brands to tag their products in feed posts and stories, a ‘Shop’ tab that lets users can browse, save, and purchase products displayed by brands or tagged by influencers, and sponsored advertising functionality.
As with Tik Tok, Fullers Fulfilment can fulfil all your social commerce orders from Instagram via sophisticated, automated systems integrations.
Customers can also purchase from businesses through Instagram DMs, when they get in touch to ask questions, for example. To continue that personalised experience right through to the delivery and unboxing, Fullers can provide personalised packaging including handwritten notes.
Facebook71% of global Facebook users purchase from the platform, which adds up to about 59.4 million buyers. If your ecommerce business has a Facebook Business account, then you can set up and customise a Facebook shop and upload your product range for a wide audience of potential customers to see.
Facebook (Meta) shoppers’ profile can view product variations specifications, ask brands questions directly through Messenger to help with their purchasing decision and then head to a virtual checkout without ever having to leave the platform.
Shopify integrations allow brands to automatically sync products to Facebook and create shoppable posts and ads, making it easy for retailers to bring the look and feel of their Shopify store to their Facebook shop.
Mintsoft and our WMS allows us to fulfil your social commerce orders from Facebook swiftly and efficiently from our fully equipped fulfilment hubs in Hampshire, Berkshire, and The Midlands.
Choose Fullers for social commerce fulfilment and see the benefits for your business
Reach a much larger target audience, streamline, and personalise the shopping experience, tailor your advertising, gather valuable audience data and product feedback…with so many tangible benefits for your ecommerce brand, it makes sense to explore all the brilliant growth opportunities that social commerce presents.
Once you’ve invested in this improved customer experience on social media, don’t make fulfilment an afterthought. It’s an integral part of the social media customer journey and essential to winning repeat business and the ‘word of mouth’ recommendations that social commerce will encourage.
Our team of experienced social commerce fulfilment experts can achieve this for you with:
- Secure and scalable warehousing at our energy-efficient sites across the UK
- Automatic pick, pack and dispatch, same day for next day delivery (social media customers want instant gratification!)
- Multi-platform systems integration allowing real-time stock visibility and critical business insights
- A variety of social media post-worthy packaging options, featuring materials and personalisation
- Better rates from a worldwide network of trusted eco-conscious couriers
- Dynamic stock management, with efficient returns processing available
We consistently invest in the technology that meets the fulfilment needs of today’s leading ecommerce brands and their online shoppers. With over 50 years in the fulfilment business, we’ve seen so much change and innovation - and social commerce is one of the most exciting eras we’ve ever been part of.
Let’s grow your brand across social media with high quality fulfilment solutions. Outsource your fulfilment to Fullers and benefit from a variety of end-to-end multi-channel fulfilment services with flexible contracts. Contact us about your social commerce fulfilment requirements today.
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