The rise of social commerce: what ecommerce brands need to know

With the social commerce market expected to grow beyond $2 trillion by 2025, social media is becoming more monetizable by the day. Between TikTok, Instagram and YouTube’s comprehensive ecommerce features, consumers can explore products and complete transactions without ever needing to leave their social media app. So what does this mean for retailers?

Social commerce - a double edged sword for ecommerce brands

Social media platforms are designed to keep consumers on their apps for as long as possible. By leveraging algorithms that personalise content feeds, users see posts and advertisements tailored to their individual interests and behaviours, making the experience more captivating and engaging. Features like endless scrolling, notifications, and interactive elements such as likes, comments, and shares create a loop of instant gratification and validation. Now, with the rise of social commerce, social media has become even more dopamine-inducing, as users can buy products without ever having to leave the platform.

This is a double edged sword for ecommerce brands. On the one hand, brands can use social media to enhance their visibility, build relationships with customers, and drive sales. However, on the flipside, social commerce is driving traffic away from their own websites and apps, making it more challenging for brands to manage sales, customer service and feedback directly. Direct engagement on a website provides valuable data on customer preferences and behaviours, which are used to feed into marketing efforts and business strategies.

The conversion strategy

Social commerce isn't going anywhere, and therefore ecommerce brands need to take a strategic approach towards social media, which is naturally designed to direct consumers to their own apps and websites. Visibility and customer engagement should be at the forefront of this strategy to nurture existing customers and attract new customers. Engaging with customers directly through comments, messages and reviews on social media platforms will help build trust and loyalty within their existing customer base, while paid ads and influencer relations can help to capture new customers. All content and communication on social media platforms should be designed to direct customers to the brand’s websites and apps.

This can be achieved through an array of strategies. Offering customers exclusive discounts for shopping directly on their website or app can serve as a powerful motivator. Similarly, loyalty schemes and limited edition product drops, which are only available on a brand’s website or app, can further drive customer traffic and enhance brand loyalty.

Personalisation through ‘Retailtainment’

Ecommerce brands have a lot to learn from Shein and Temu. Aside from their extensive work with influencers and paid marketing activities across social media, the two ecommerce giants have perfected the art of experiential commerce. And it’s a hit – especially with Gen Z and millennials. There is now a large overlap between TikTok Shop users and Shein and Temu consumers because all three platforms engage in “retailtainment” i.e. the merging of commerce with entertainment.

Retailers can take the tactics that make social commerce successful and translate them to their app experience. These brands engage users through entertaining posts, games and videos, and users can purchase almost anything they need or want, all in one place and practically at the same time. Brands wanting to compete should ensure their websites and apps offer the same amount of entertainment value – in other words, they need to gamifytheir platforms. There are a variety of ways to do this, and Shein and Temu offer plenty of examples for inspiration, including exclusive live events, competitions and rewards, point systems, and beyond.

While Shein and Temu have successfully gamified their platforms, there are huge gaps in their strategies that other, more specialist brands can exploit. Because both brands have a huge assortment of products, their personalisation tactics are focused almost entirely on product recommendations.

Smaller retailers have the opportunity to be more targeted and demonstrate their ‘retailtainment’ by adopting more personalised customer engagement strategies. In particular, live streamed shopping - the modern equivalent of telesales, whereby, for instance, a recruited influencer tries on fashion items as people can tune in and buy – allows brands to interact with shoppers in real time with a direct call to action. Successful live shopping experiences blend product showcasings with entertainment, such as games, giveaways, and influencer charisma, to keep viewers engaged.

In-app engagement also comes down to creating the most sophisticated and refined experience for today’s shoppers. Integrating video-based content and reels, designed for mobile and desktop, is a great way to create a more three-dimensional shopping experience - something which neither Shein nor Temu have taken advantage of yet.

To win at ecommerce these days, brands need to prioritise social media more than they ever have. Paid social can be your friend when you’re looking for a quick win, but investing time and money into your social content strategy will yield better long-term results.