Social Commerce: What It Is & How to Use It in 2023

Recently, I set a time limit on social media usage on my iPhone to “45 minutes.”

I thought it would be 45 minutes More More than enough. About an hour? Between working on HubSpot, catching up with friends, and attending exercise classes, 45 minutes will be a lot of social media consumption.

Unfortunately, I quickly discovered that I spent 45 minutes on social media in the morning before I even got to work.

I know I am not alone. The average daily social media usage of Internet users worldwide is 151 minutes per day.

With all that consumption, more businesses turn to social media to market to their audiences. But Marketing That’s just one aspect of the buyer’s journey – what about the sale? Can this be done on social media platforms also?

It is now completely possible for businesses to sell products and services natively on social media sites.

Here, we’ll explore that concept – social commerce – and look at some impressive examples of social commerce so you can consider trying it for your company.

Additionally, we’ll list some of the most popular social commerce platforms available today so you can decide which one can give you the highest ROI.

What is social commerce?

social commerce example

Top Social Commerce Websites/Platforms

How to create a social commerce strategy

Since many businesses are already marketing on these social media sites, it makes sense to allow users to make purchases from within these platforms without leaving the site.

Should You Take Advantage of Social Commerce?

If you sell physical products online, leveraging social commerce is a great way to increase sales and revenue in your business.

Users are used to the native shopping experience at this point and love being able to make a purchase instantly on social media apps.

Our latest consumer trends survey shows that social media is the future of shopping. Gen Z, Millennials, and Gen

Additionally, 59% say their company is making more sales through social media this year than last year.

1. Social media checkout capabilities.

The best example of social commerce is the ability to click on a product and checkout from a social media site like Instagram or Facebook.

For example, Instagram has a “Checkout” feature on its app, which allows you to click on a product within a post, choose a size and color, and proceed to payment within the platform.

The first time you use Instagram‘s checkout feature, you’ll need to enter your name, email, billing information, and shipping address. Once your order is complete, Instagram saves your data, so you won’t need to enter it the next time you make a purchase.

You’ll also receive notifications about shipping and delivery from within Instagram, so you can track your purchases without leaving the app.

For example, let’s see what happens when I click the View Shop or Shopping icon on an Instagram post from @NikeWomen:

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Instagram immediately pulls up a page that includes all the details of each product included in the image and more from their shop.

I’m especially interested in sneakers. From within Instagram, I can choose a color and size and then click the blue “Checkout on Instagram” button. If I’ve made a purchase on Instagram before, I don’t need to re-enter my information.

pretty simple.

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Many other social networks, including Facebook and Pinterest, have these checkout features.

2. Social Commerce Plugins and Apps.

As social commerce continues to grow in popularity, we’ll see more plugins and third-party apps emerging to make the process even more seamless for businesses and users.

For example, a third-party app called Soldeasy allows your followers to purchase one of your products by simply typing “sold out” in the comments section of a post.

Once they’ve commented “sold”, the app takes care of the rest, emailing the user an invoice for completion.

For example, if my friend comments “sold out” on a Facebook post of a cute sundress, I’ll see the photo in my news feed and might consider buying one for myself.

Ultimately, social commerce is an excellent opportunity to increase brand awareness and sales – a win-win.

3. Shoppable Ads.

Shoppable ads are another example of social commerce and are currently available on both Instagram and Snapchat.

Simply put, shoppable ads allow businesses to tag products in Instagram or Snapchat sponsored posts, ideally creating a more efficient ad-to-purchase experience.

This type of social commerce helps companies collect valuable data on which ads convert prospects into customers. Immediately.

Shoppable ads features continue to improve in both Snapchat and Instagram.

For example, Snapchat has advanced features on its shoppable ads, including collection ads, product catalogs, advanced pixel targeting, and 30+ new Snapchat partners.

Wish, an e-commerce app, successfully uses Snapchat’s Product Catalog feature to create individual Snap Ads and Story Ads to showcase a large variety of its products, as shown below.

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