‘Social Commerce’: Social media becoming place where more people spend their money

'Social commerce' is booming, what is it?

As so many of us begin shopping for the holidays, there's a growing chance some of your money will go towards something you saw on social media. FOX 26 Business Reporter Tom Zizka says so-called "social commerce" is attracting an astounding volume of business.

HOUSTON - As so many of us begin shopping for the holidays, there's a growing chance that some of your money will go toward something you saw on social media. Anecdotally, a lot of it took off during the pandemic, when online shopping was the way a lot of us were getting things. Now, so-called 'social commerce' is attracting an astounding volume of business worth hundreds of billions of dollars.

Digital marketing expert Derek Chew, of Full Moon Digital, says a growing number of brands, both old and new, are recognizing the value and necessity of reaching potential customers through social media engagement and advertising. "Their customers live on 'social', so social shopping becomes a more relevant touchpoint," he says.

The most recent example was the marketing campaign, featuring rapper Snoop Dog, who suggested he was giving up smoking marijuana when, instead, he was promoting a smokeless fire pit.

There's a ready audience for that kind of outreach. A consumer survey found 76% of consumers say they've bought something they saw on a brand's social media post. Often, it's an impulse buy, since few of us scroll through social media with a shopping list. Most go there for entertainment, and successful merchants offer quick and easy ways to go from browsing to buying.

"That allows brands to provide engaging content that can be memorable, that can trigger a response and emotional response, with the user," says Chew, "So, when they're ready to buy a certain product, you might be on their top-3, in consideration."

It's great to be in consideration, as long as the product or service performs as advertised. That same consumer survey found a third of consumers remain skeptical that such retailers are legitimate. Derek Chew says there's only one-way retailers will have a chance at lasting success, "A new kid on the block will have a tougher time acquiring a customer, but it's not different from a big-brand store trying to retain a customer by selling good, quality product."

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On TikTok, the hashtag #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt has pages and pages of posts showing off purchases of things users found on the platform. It's got more than 58 billion views. That's why retailers are doing this, and why global 'social commerce' sales are expected to top $1 trillion by 2025.

It's the new shopping mall, so buy wisely.

Business Money