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The Rise of Social Commerce

Social Commerce: The Opportunity

Social Commerce, customer purchase journeys that start on social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram,
are predicted to grow to $165bn by 2021. So in the summer of 2018, Portaltech Reply commissioned some research to understand how the British public is responding to this new way of shopping.


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What we wanted to find out


  • Do consumers want to shop in Social Media?

  • Is the pace of Social Commerce aligned with consumer expectations?

  • What do consumers think about their data being used?

  • How can brands personalise the shopping experience?

  • What are the implications for consumer consent and trust?

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    REVIEWS & RATINGS

    50% OF CONSUMERS WRITE REVIEWS ON WEBSITES VS 7% ON SOCIAL MEDIA SITES
    One of the most powerful influences on digital purchases are relevant reviews and ratings. However brands are missing a trick by not pulling these further up the Social Commerce journey to aid conversion. Brands may therefore be spending more budget than they have to on demand-driven communications higher up the purchase funnel.

  • ADVERTISING

    WHILST 49% OF CONSUMERS PURCHASED A PRODUCT AS A RESULT OF RECOMMENDATIONS, 76% CLAIM NEVER TO HAVE PURCHASED ANYTHING IN THEIR FEED
    The Social Commerce advertising model is missing a trick by not distinguishing between Consumers and Prospects. One man’s meat (a relevant recommendation) is another man’s poison (an irrelevant ad), as they say. Retailers must work harder to serve up relevant advertising based on their relationship with the customer.

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    INFLUENCER MARKETING

    80% OF CONSUMERS TRUST THEIR PEERS MORE THAN CELEBRITIES OR ENDORSERS
    6 degrees of separation: consumers want influencer endorsements that are executed at point of purchase, to be as close as possible to them in their personal networks. When it comes to the crunch, ‘swing’ consumers are looking for endorsement from friends and family at point of purchase, rather than paid endorsers.

  • GROUP PURCHASING

    92% OF CONSUMERS DON’T USE EXISTING GROUP PURCHASING APPLICATIONS
    Group purchasing currently works best for experiences that are not personalised - but still have the potential to grow. Retailers should harness group purchase functionality on their own websites, building a Social Commerce experience away from the social media platforms.

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    TRUST

    77% OF CONSUMERS DON’T WANT TO GIVE THEIR PAYMENT DETAILS TO SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS
    Trust is inhibiting consumers from purchasing directly on Social Media. In an era of fake news and data breaches, consumers will go to their favourite brands to build trust back on the internet. Retailers must take advantage of this to strengthen their trust credentials by managing their customers’ data (preferences and financial) in a robust, secure and transparent fashion.

CONCLUSIONS

WHAT DID PORTALTECH REPLY FIND OUT?

The marketplace for Social Commerce is developing fast, with consumer demand currently at its strongest among 18-24-year olds in London and the South East. The key to Social Commerce is not only experiencing the convenience of purchasing your favourite brands from the comfort of your mobile newsfeed, but the endorsement from those individuals that matter most to you. Brands must seduce and entice their customers into sharing their precious data in return for something truly valuable: a trusted network of reliable endorsements from real people.


EXPLORE THE INSIGHTS IN DEPTH

MAKING THE RETAIL EXPERIENCE MORE SOCIAL

Having taken a deep dive into the research results, Portaltech Reply observed that retailers have been slow to develop digital social commerce functionalities in their bricks & mortar shops. Portaltech Reply therefore developed some exciting technology that harnesses reviews & ratings and makes check out easier, to demonstrate how Social Commerce functionalities can be used instore to improve sales conversion.
Watch this video to find out more.