Social commerce continues to democratize opportunities for smaller brands (and individuals) vs big brands, with sales expected to triple by 2025
Based on Accenture projections in Jan 2022 report:
Social media is estimated to now be used by 3.5 billion people – 44%+ of the world’s population – who spend on average 2 & 1/2 hours a day on it.
Rather than brands and even experts, we consumers more intrinsically trust “others like us” for input and recommendations on what to buy. So buying on the social media site, with our like-minded communities, vs having to leave platform to find a product, is the logical next path for commerce.
Accenture forecasts:
◊ The social commerce opportunity globally will nearly triple by 2025 to $1.2 trillion. That’s at a CAGR of 26% from about $492 billion sales in 2021.
◊ This accounts for 16.7% of the $7 trillion global e-commerce total spend.
◊ In the US, social commerce will more than double, reaching $99 billion by 2025 [Note: eMarketer projects US social commerce sales of $80B by 2025, still really big]
Accenture provides a framework on
“WHAT SOCIAL COMMERCE IS: the integration of social experience and ecommerce transactions in a single path to purchase, enabled by a platform.”
They matrix sellers (brand, influencer, individual) against engagement vectors (driven by Content, experience and networks). (see chart in above video)
All brands and retailers must figure out their Social Commerce strategy so they don't get left behind. Any good strategy of course requires deeply knowing your customer and engaging them in the most compelling way for each social platform (that serve different roles) to ensure your interaction actually delivers results.