The E-Commerce industry is going through massive disruption and as more people are coming online, this domain is going to touch new levels of success. As more people are using social media channels, E-commerce is becoming social commerce and it’s the future.
What is Social Commerce?
In simple terms, social commerce is the method of selling products on social media directly to customers.
Compared to full-fledged eCommerce, Social Commerce goes beyond one step and here the majority of traffic comes from social media channels. Leveraging social commerce, the complete shopping experience can be made seamless.
If we talk about social media marketing services, Facebook and Pinterest offer full-fledged services to sell products seamlessly on a global level. You must have seen some attractive t-shirts on Instagram with a shop now button at the bottom of the post. It’s an example of social commerce. Or, you must have seen a decent-priced smartphone cover while scrolling Facebook with a buy button. It’s another example of social commerce. With the growing popularity of social media platforms, more platforms are coming up with shopping features.
Social Commerce Vs E-Commerce
Now beginners who are new to digital selling will think of which approach is better for their profitability. Fret not, we have got you covered. E-Commerce platforms refer to a full-fledged shopping experience through a website or a dedicated application. On the other hand, Social Commerce lets customers buy products through social media platforms. In simple terms, both are different methods of selling products online. Social commerce is not social selling. The concept of social selling refers to building up relationships on social media and turning the leads into paying customers.
Why use Social Selling?
Social selling is the future of doing business online and generating more ROI for business owners. To help you understand better about social selling, we have gathered some important aspects that you need to know.
- Social commerce feels seamless
- It removes friction
- Higher ROI
- More Popular among Millennials
- FOMO works really well
Social commerce feels seamless
Social commerce offers a more seamless experience to every buyer even if they are only browsing the products. As social media applications are readily available and accessible 24×7, the buying experience becomes seamless. In an E-Commerce platform, users need to search and browse products, then add their payment details, and the entire process gets lengthy. On the other hand, social commerce is more convenient, handy, and easy to use. For anyone who is not much into buying online stuff from eCommerce websites, social commerce comes in handy.
It removes friction
Compared to E-Commerce websites, the friction in social selling is minimal. Business owners don’t need to track the entire buyer’s journey and then dive into the complex demographics and personification. When customers visit the social media platforms, they simply view details of the product, check the price, apply discount code and make the checkout. It removes the barrier and improves the chances of visitors buying the products the very first time seeing the ad. On the other hand, on an E-commerce website, visitors first check out the product, compare it to another website, read reviews, and they might buy it from the same place.
Higher ROI
Most people have not understood the full potential of social selling yet as there is some serious money to be made through it. Compared to the E-Commerce platform, the overall efforts in running and maintaining a social selling platform is much more efficient. According to a survey, more than 81% of people first search for products on social media platforms before buying. This stat makes it evident that there is a massive scope of making money through social selling. As the target audience is serious about buying products, the sales numbers will be much higher.