Where Is Social Commerce Headed?

Since the creation of social networking sites, we have seen how much they’ve evolved. What was then just a way to connect with friends, acquaintances, and relatives – we now use them for product discovery, selling, and purchasing goods and services.

The emergence of social commerce has been very effective not just for enterprises, but for shoppers who are looking for convenience and accessibility in buying goods and services.

In the first half of 2021, the Philippines reached its highest social commerce orders growth where a whopping 129% of goods orders were made on social media platforms. This was faster than the 102% average social commerce orders growth in four SEA countries (the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, and Singapore).

This is clear proof of how effective and massive social commerce is in the Philippines right now.

It revolutionized consumerism in the time of the pandemic at an exhilarating pace.

Approximately 89 million Filipinos are well known to be avid social media users. As they’ve started to spend more time at home during the pandemic, they also started to get even more fond of using social media to shop online, acquire services, and discover brands. Thus, increasing the engagements on these platforms.

According to recent studies, social commerce emerged as the second most preferred channel for shopping in the Philippines at 82 percent, surpassing offline stores.

The pandemic indeed ignited the spark that made social commerce grow into a juggernaut, but what are the reasons that skyrocketed its popularity on top?

Businesses have become more innovative in their approach to using social media. Before, it’s more on just identifying, connecting, and nurturing prospective customers to generate sales. But with social commerce, they incorporated the customer’s affinity to social media with online and in-store shopping. It gave customers a joyful, easy and seamless shopping experience because you can shop directly within the app or platform.

Another thing that makes social commerce thriving these days is it focuses not only to drive sales but also to provide exceptional customer support and satisfaction.

Delivering a broader range of communication channels will greatly boost brand awareness, build rapport and establish loyalty. Social media apps such as Instagram and Snapchat incorporated in-app checkout and shoppable ads as one of their functionalities to feature products and services effectively.

On the other hand, Facebook adopts chatbot-based customer care with online shopping. The chatbot facilitates conversation with the user and is essential to figure out whatever assistance or support the user needs on the spot. It is an interactive way for brands to connect with customers online – leading to perking up user engagement and customer satisfaction.  

Social commerce is a game-changing shift in how we shop and how the business sells and connects. It is indeed the future. As the landscape widens, new tools and technologies are emerging to make the customer journey even better.

Social commerce will not be just a phase, but it will be here for the long run. It will impact the growth of different industries immensely in the coming years.

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