This past year has seen significant advancements in social commerce, driven by major players in the space including Meta and TikTok. TikTok have recently introduced a new shopping tab alongside their Following and For You pages, presenting users the opportunity to purchase trending items directly in-app. Purchases are incentivised with free shipping and returns, and can be used on viral TikTok items, for example the Samyang Carbonara noodles and Uniqlo cross-body bag dupes that have blown up in the past few months. This move by the platform has seen huge success to date, providing a low friction purchase option for users whilst allowing brands the ability to capture organic demand created through viral videos.  

Meta, like TikTok, has also expanded their social commerce offering with the introduction of Instagram Checkout. Products can be tagged in both organic and paid Instagram posts, linking directly to a product page and checkout journey, all whilst remaining in the Instagram app. This provides a lucrative opportunity for both brands and content creators alike, easily able to monetise owned brands and partnership deals through their content.  

Increasingly, we’re seeing advancements in Live Video that facilitates social commerce across major platforms such as Meta, Twitter, and TikTok. In a similar manner to traditional TV-based shopping channels such as QVC, brands and creators have the opportunity to showcase products live to their audience who can then purchase without leaving the stream. In a recent report, this purchase journey is proving particularly popular with Gen-Z shoppers, who accounted for 47% of livestream purchasers.  

Whilst traditional e-commerce channels shouldn’t be overlooked, there is no doubt that social commerce presents a significant opportunity for businesses moving forward. These strategies provide a safe and convenient purchase journey for consumers whilst reducing friction for businesses and creators to sell their goods. As social platforms continue to develop their commerce offering, marketers will need to remain at the forefront of innovation to leverage first-mover advantage for this new sales channel.