Today's Take is all about selling socially. Think "tupperware-style" retail for today's consumers. Trust us, it's a thing.
Even though lockdown measures are beginning to ease, most of us are still choosing to shop online as opposed to camping overnight for tomorrow's high street bargains.
It takes 30 days to pick up a new habit, and I think it's safe to say, we have all adapted to the wonderful world of e-commerce. Without or without Primark.
So this leaves us with the question,
"Will social shopping businesses see an increase in use?"
Queue the "tuppeware" party trend.
Last year, internet users worldwide spent an average of 144 minutes per day on social media – up from 142 minutes in 2018. As online shopping continues to be the norm – with marketplace platforms such as Amazon and eBay becoming staples in lifestyle and fast fashion e-commerce sites popular among younger consumers – there has been a rapid increase of direct-to-consumer (DTC) social selling.
The Story
During a time where consumers are continuing to stay at home and many brands not being able to physically meet their clientele, social media and technological advancements could see them using apps such as Zoom or Houseparty to sell. Both businesses selling through social and businesses providing slick tools to do it have upped their game.
The Trend
Nearly 75% of consumers rely on social media to help guide what they buy.
Let's not fool ourselves, affiliate marketing has been around forever. Companies like Avon, created multi-million-pound businesses around the model. But now, we are seeing global brands that built their revenue around retail, not only go online but also, now start to adopt the social selling trend to capture the attention of today's consumer.
Our Take
While many early e-commerce efforts focused on selling to people in a closed one-on-one interaction where others couldn’t see or take part, social media has added new layers to social commerce. And that's the element that today's consumer is drawn to. The community aspect of overall digital experience. The important aspect of social commerce is that you’re actively selling on the platform itself, instead of driving traffic away from the social media site and directly to your website.
And people don't just want to do the buying, they want to do the selling as well. The interest in the gig economy means that social selling is growing in popularity as a form of independent earning. It's a side hustle, it offers flexible earning and more importantly, people get to add the hashtag #Bosslife.. that last part was a joke…Well kind of.
Brands such as Nike Direct prove that success can be achieved by adopting unconventional and in some ways a radically different approach. We believe that now is the time for retailers to look beyond the norm to survive and thrive and social commerce has huge potential. Both businesses selling through social and businesses providing slick tools to do it have upped their game.
Thinking of selling socially as a brand? Here are 3 platforms to consider;
Facebook Shops and Marketplace;
Essentially, Facebook Marketplace allows you to list just about everything you sell in a place that still feels like traditional Facebook in terms of branding. Facebook Shops then lets you select products and create a customized look designed to feel like your shop.
Instagram Shopping:
Instagram Shopping ads are the go-to for Instagram social commerce. These ad units let you tag products in your posts to make it easy for people to discover and purchase them.
Pinterest:
There have been some big improvements to the service in recent months because of the growth of e-commerce. Check out the use of Product Pins as they allow people to buy directly from you, while catalog items make it easy to browse and then click through to take actions.
That's a quick update on selling socially, and we hope to see you and your brand in the ever-changing world of e-commerce soon.
That's it from us, but remember to join us on Tuesday at 3 pm GMT for Ecrubox Live on Instagram. We will be chatting about all things content, technology, and e-commerce with the co-founder of Bluebite, Mikhail Damiani. In the meantime, if you are looking to improve your social media game, and build your community like a pro, why not check out our recent post on Why ‘just doing social media’ is ineffective for business growth.
Have questions? Feel free to reach out to us, as our experts love to nerd out on these topics and of course get to chat digital with our community.
Happy Friday!
The Ecrubox Team.
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