5 strategies to use social commerce to improve sales and manufacturer impact

The conventional ecommerce shopping practical experience as we know it is fast staying eclipsed by social commerce, or the use of social networks to facilitate purchasing and offering. Consider of social commerce as the digital edition of the outdated times when searching included energetic social interactions, time with buddies and possibly even a very little fun haggling. Makes now see it as a ought to-have, and social media platforms are keen to accommodate them. Social commerce has taken off in the U.S. and other locations, fueling what is believed to be a $605 billion market by 2027. 

Businesses and merchants with an ecommerce presence can reward greatly by getting into social commerce. In this article are five keys to accomplishment in this fast developing area. 

Social commerce features uncover novel social insights not recognized by traditional ecommerce. Classic ecommerce uses objective actions this kind of as clickstream, time invested on website page, checkout conversion and so on to measure the achievements of a solution on the web page. Nevertheless, utilizing only these goal steps misses out on extremely beneficial social insights, these as shopper reviews, testimonials, likes, and so forth, that supply valuable information and facts about how consumers hook up emotionally with merchandise, what they like or dislike, and in which the sector traits are or are going.

Resourceful merchandise are particularly very well-suited for social commerce

Suppliers in imaginative products types ought to actively use social commerce, as they can specifically reward from it. Merchandise can mostly be divided into artistic goods and purposeful merchandise. Resourceful solutions are things like trend, toys and media, though examples of practical items are electronics, appliances and equipment.

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Creative products are differentiated subjectively, largely depending on consumer taste and what’s on trend, whereas functional products are differentiated based on objective measures or features such as number of gigabytes of memory. Therefore, retailers selling creative products will benefit immensely from actively using social commerce to engage with customers on a more emotional level, stay up-to-date with the latest trends, and set new trends.

Use social commerce to amplify your brand

Social commerce is not just about person-to-person sales. Retailers have a major opportunity to work with influencers on social media for brand-building. Influencers’ personal brands help lend external credibility and trust for your brand and products, and hence should be part of a comprehensive marketing strategy. Social influencers also tend to have a younger audience, which makes them a very effective way to reach this demographic.

Use social commerce to enhance customer service

In addition to brand-building, retailers should take advantage of social media to provide customer service. Customer service is an often-overlooked part of social commerce but can be just as important as direct sales. Engage customers on social media via Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, etc. to resolve their problems. This helps the company appear more responsive to customer needs and reduces chances of product problems going viral on social media.

Understand your local market to maximize impact

Founders looking to get into social commerce need to start by taking a close look at the trends in their particular market. For example, if you’re targeting Latin America, expect there to be a strong in-person component. Many LatAm consumers don’t have access to digital technology or card payments to allow them to easily shop online therefore, social commerce will often require in-person interactions.

A final word

The evolution of ecommerce into social commerce is escalating as brands discover that social can drive sales, brand growth and new customer shopping experiences. Accordingly, both global social media platforms and startups can benefit greatly by capitalizing on this transition to better understand customer preferences and the latest market trends.

Bob Ma is an investment manager at WIND Ventures.