From clothes to your favorite foods, ordering online is no longer a novelty. With the growth of digitalization and social media, it has also become common to buy things directly from social media platforms. The question remains, what is the difference between social commerce and e-commerce? Simply put, social commerce is a subset of e-commerce. It is the use of social media to promote and sell products and services. In this case, consumers and sellers interact with each other through a direct medium, resulting in a “new-age” online shopping experience. Apparently, both consumers and sellers can benefit from the “interactive” nature of digital media platforms. According to media reports, brands are constantly improvising and improving the way they do their work by introducing live solutions. From a consumer perspective, this is like watching a live stream, but for the purpose of purchasing a product, also known as live stream shopping. Brands are providing consumers with a shopping experience by including live chat, live video shopping, and shopping cart integration as well. So what about the platforms? Which platforms are most used for social commerce? Mentioned here is a list based on our observations.
Facebook is reportedly the social media platform where marketers drive social retail sales. Brands wanting to get into social commerce can start with Facebook. According to Meta guidelines, anyone can open a shop on Facebook using a business account. Consumers can browse available products on the brand's Facebook page. New social commerce-based brands can also start a test shop where they can evaluate the customer experience beyond managing orders.
Considered one of the popular social media platforms, Instagram has also become a social commerce-oriented platform. This platform creates a “wow” factor for shoppers as it allows merchants to increase brand awareness. From Instagram, consumers can purchase products that are displayed in the form of images and videos. Every product sold on Instagram has its own page with product description, videos, and images.
Pinterest, a social media platform dedicated to images, is another medium through which sellers and buyers can interact with each other. On this platform, most product searches are unbranded. Users can search for their desired items by both brand name or product name. As is understood, sellers have the ability to reach potential buyers who are not familiar with the seller's products but have the income range to invest in the product.
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