Social Media Marketing - March 16, 2019

Social Commerce Referral Grows 110%

Instagram and Pinterest bolster social-driven ecommerce

Derek Lackey March 16, 2019

0 557 3 min read

Social commerce only drives a fraction of ecommerce sales, but it’s picking up speed. Between 2016 and 2018, social networks as a last-touch channel have doubled in visit share to US retail sites, according to Q3 2018 data from Adobe.

Growth in Visit Share to US Retail Sites, by Last-Touch Channel, Q3 2018 (% change vs. Q3 2016)

“Social commerce is gaining momentum as platforms like Instagram and Pinterest add shopping-related features, and influencers have only added fuel to the fire,” said eMarketer principal analyst Andrew Lipsman. “While it’s not the most important direct-referral channel for retail, it’s growing the fastest.”

Older platforms like Facebook and Twitter have long experimented with social commerce features, but the practice has never caught on. Then visually oriented social networks like Instagram came along and gave brands ways to showcase their products.

Last November, Instagram introduced three new features to drive in-app purchases. In the same month, Snapchat also launched a new social commerce feature called “Shop and Cop.”

More recently, Pinterest expanded its shopping capabilities in anticipation of its initial public offering.ADVERTISEMENT

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“The content itself takes up 85% of the screen [on Instagram],” said Apu Gupta, co-founder and CEO of social commerce platform Curalate. “And the way you thumb through it lends itself to a discovery experience. You can tap on the image and see the products that are contained within them.”

Influencer marketing is also bolstering social commerce, especially on Instagram where 34% of daily users ages 13 and older have already purchased products based on a recommendation from an influencer or blogger, according to December 2018 data from CivicScience.