Key takeaways:
- While many platforms offer some form of shoppable content, only Facebook and Instagram currently have in-app checkout options. Lacking native checkout abilities is not necessarily a deal breaker for consumers—56% of US shoppers who made a purchase through social media did so via links to retailers’ websites, according to a survey from Bizrate Insights—but the more seamless the process is, the more likely shoppers are to see the transaction through to the end.
- Live shopping is increasingly being used as an entry point to social commerce. Twitter has started testing a livestream shopping feature, while Pinterest recently launched Pinterest TV, which the company describes as “a series of live, original, and shoppable episodes featuring creators right on Pinterest.”
A caveat: While 48% of US social media users reported making a purchase via social media in the past year, per our "US Digital Trust Survey 2021," social commerce hasn’t quite become mainstream. We forecast sales in the US will reach $36.62 billion this year, a mere one-tenth the size of China’s social commerce market.
Still, brands are enthusiastic about the prospect of social commerce: A study by The Harris Poll and Sprout Social found that 73% of businesses are currently selling via social media, with that number expected to rise to 79% in the next three years.