‘Social’ e-commerce, that is, those online purchases that are made through social networks, is growing like wildfire. So much so that it will grow at a rate of 31.4% per year until 2027 and will reach 500,000 million euros. This is indicated by the survey collected in the ‘2021 Global Consumer Survey Report’ by Astound Commerce.
This research has been carried out on a thousand consumers in North America, Europe and the Middle East. Daniel Carnerero, responsible for Astound for Spain and Portugal, points out that the pandemic and the months of confinement led to an increase in connection time on the internet and on social networks.
“Although the social channel has traditionally been relegated as a place to discover products and brands, the convergence of content and commerce has made social networks an essential and growing channel for purchases,” he explains. “In fact, almost 25% of consumers globally say they will shop through a social network more often in the upcoming holiday season compared to 2020,” he details.
In the heat of the increase in social interactions in the past year, social networks have accelerated their activities around e-commerce through various implementations, acquisitions and partnerships.
Facebook stands out as the favorite ‘social’ e-commerce platform
Facebook remains the number one social network for shopping, especially for older generations. Meanwhile, Generation Z tends to opt for the greater visual appeal of Instagram. Nearly 3.5 billion people actively use social media, growing at around 10% per year. Women tend to follow influencers on Instagram, while men prefer Facebook, according to Astound Commerce.
In this context, it is worth highlighting an acceleration in the number of brands seeking to monetize their presence on social networks. For example, Instagram has launched a feature called Drops that allows brands to highlight and generate traction on new products and limited editions.
One of the main issues related to buying on platforms is the ease of buying. As the customer is “logged in” and has, in many cases, payment methods associated with their mobile device, the purchase process is carried out immediately and easily. Thus, one of the main barriers to online shopping (limited urgency or pressure when buying) is eliminated.
The report also reveals that 61% of global consumers shop online at least once a week. This figure shoots up to 74% in the case of the British.
