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23 Thrilling Social Commerce Statistics Every Marketer Should Know in 2024

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Creating and executing successful online marketing campaigns has become impossible without the use of social media platforms. Social commerce definition puts sites like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at the centre of product promotion. Proper utilisation of these tools gives marketers a more convenient way to find and reach their target audience successfully.

This article will provide an in-depth overview of the latest social commerce statistics. One of its goals is to help you create successful marketing campaigns and grow your sales and revenue in the process. Read on to learn more about advertising and selling your products on social media.

Top Social Commerce Trends and Figures (Editor’s Choice)

  • TikTok is the next social media platform marketers want to conquer—and its short-video form is winning over Instagram and Snapchat.
  • The total number of transactions through WeChat’s Mini Programs grew 897% in 2021.
  • 49% of brands plan to invest more in social commerce in 2022.
  • In 2022, one in three users will make a purchase on Facebook.
  • Social media purchases will account for 14.3% of all online purchases in China by 2023.
  • Clothing will account for the largest share of social commerce purchases by 2025.
  • In 2021, the global social commerce market was worth $492 billion.

Social Commerce Stats for Marketers

In this first section, we’ll look at some general facts regarding the use of social media for business purposes. We’ll examine the current state of the social commerce market and take a closer look at how marketers are using social media to reach their target audience.

1. The global social commerce market was worth $492 billion in 2021.

(Accenture)

However, social commerce growth is projected to happen at an annual rate of 26% in the coming years. The market should reach $1.2 trillion by 2025—more than two-and-a-half times its current worth.

2. The US social commerce market value should reach $84.2 billion by 2024.

(Statista)

Along with the global market, the US social commerce market will also continue growing in the next few years. After hitting $29.3 billion in 2020—a relatively small year-over-year increase from $22 billion in 2019—the market’s value is projected to reach $84.2 billion by 2024.

3. 12% of ecommerce companies plan to sell directly through social media.

(Statista)

One of the trends in social commerce is more and more ecommerce companies selling their products on social media. According to a 2020 survey, 12% of online retailers planned to enter social commerce in 2021, while 30% of the surveyed companies had already been involved in it.

On the other hand, 20% of companies expressed no interest in turning to social commerce, but the optimistic market projections might make them revise their plans.

4. 49% of brands plan to invest more in social commerce in 2022.

(Shopify)

The social commerce strategy of 81% of companies includes keeping or increasing their livestream selling budgets. The fact that 46% of consumers want to watch product videos before purchasing a product motivated the increase in social and live commerce investments.

5. Social selling will help establish the dominance of ecommerce, statistics reveal.

(Internet Retailing)

Despite the growing popularity of ecommerce and social media, physical stores still sell up to 20% more than online platforms. However, thanks to the combination of social commerce, personalised marketing, and convenient delivery, that’s about to change. Recent projections say that 53% of all sales will occur on the internet by 2030, causing a significant shift in the market.

6. Most business-to-consumer (B2C) marketers use Facebook to reach customers.

(Social Media Examiner)

According to a recent report, a staggering 96% of marketers use Facebook to reach their target audience and boost their sales. Many of them also focus their efforts on predominantly visual social commerce platforms—82% use Instagram, 53% use YouTube, and 28% use Pinterest.

7. More than 80% of business-to-business (B2B) marketers use LinkedIn.

(Social Media Examiner)

While 91% of B2B marketers use Facebook, making it the most popular social media platform, it’s interesting to note that 81% also use LinkedIn. Instagram is in third place, with 71% of B2B marketers saying they used it to conduct business in 2020.

8. TikTok is the next social media platform marketers want to conquer.

(Social Media Examiner)

This social commerce platform saw unprecedented growth in popularity throughout the year, and marketers have taken note. Nearly 5% of B2C marketers and 4% of B2B marketers say they used it for business in 2020. Additionally, 16% of marketers planned to increase their use of TikTok for marketing and sales in 2021, when the platform surpassed one billion users.

9. One in three users will make a purchase on Facebook in 2022.

(Statista, eMarketer)

With 2.9 billion active monthly users and counting, Facebook is still the leading social media platform and is significantly contributing to the rise of social commerce. On that note, Facebook recently introduced Facebook Shops, a feature aimed at sellers that’s supposed to position the platform as a competitor to ecommerce giants like Amazon and eBay. The company also owns Instagram, making it an undisputed leader among all social commerce sites.

Social Commerce Statistics - Facebook on a smatphone

Customer Habits and Social Commerce Statistics

This section will look at some crucial stats on customer habits regarding social media. We’ll find out how social media influences customers’ purchasing choices, examine who uses social media the most, and see how interested they are in buying through social media.

10. 90.4% of US millennials use social media every month.

(eMarketer)

Millennials are the most frequent social media users, with 90.4% saying they use social media at least once a month. They are the population that will hold the most capital in the years to come, and social media is where marketers can most easily find them and interact with them.

11. According to online purchase statistics, 87% of online shoppers use social media while making shopping decisions.

(Social Media Today)

Even if they haven’t yet bought anything directly through social media, 87% of online buyers say they use social media to decide what to purchase. They search through brand pages to learn more about specific products and services, and the information they gather influences their shopping choices.

12. More than 50% of young people in the US buy clothes they see on social media.

(eMarketer)

A 2019 survey revealed that 55.2% of Gen-Z youths (aged 14–24) and 50.6% of millennials (aged 25–34) had recently bought clothes they first saw on social media. Social commerce companies specialising in fashion can utilise these findings to tailor their advertising campaigns and use social media to their advantage.

When it comes to the UK, the fashion industry has plenty of potential for social commerce, due to its high online shopping penetration and the fashion industry’s strong presence on social media. For example, UK fashion industry statistics show that the most popular fashion retailer brand on Youtube had an astounding 22.1 million views in 2021.

13. 52% of customers worldwide say social media has influenced their shopping decisions.

(Statista)

Social media has the biggest influence in Indonesia, where 83% of shoppers say they’ve made purchasing choices based on what they read on platforms they use. The top five also includes India (76%), Egypt (75%), Turkey (69%), and China (68%).

14. 30% of online shoppers would buy products from a social commerce company.

(Forbes)

Approximately 500 million online consumers who use social media expressed interest in buying something directly through their chosen platform. They cited Instagram, Pinterest, and Twitter as their preferred social media sites for this. Additionally, more than 383 million (23%) consumers said social media recommendations significantly impact their buying decisions.

15. Clothing will account for the largest share of social commerce purchases by 2025.

(Accenture)

In the next three years, clothing promises to make up 18% of social commerce purchases, followed by consumer electronics at 13% and home decor at 7%. However, social commerce trends in 2021 showed that beauty grows especially quickly in this category. In fact, by 2025, social commerce could take over 40% of the total beauty digital spend.

Social Commerce Statistics - Model in overalls

Influencer Marketing and Online Shopping Statistics

Social media has given rise to a new type of celebrity marketers—influencers. They are social media users with a large following (at least 10,000 users) who have the power to shape other people’s opinions. Their role in social commerce is crucial, as you’ll learn in this section.

16. 49% of people listen to influencers when buying a product.

(Influencer Orchestration Network)

Nearly 1 in 2 social media users will listen to influencers when deciding on their next purchase. What’s more, 40% say they’ve bought a product after an influencer featured it in one of their posts, further illustrating the impact of influencers on social commerce trends.

Interestingly, 56% of users say they primarily trust their friends’ recommendations, meaning that influencers have almost as much impact on people’s purchasing decisions as their close friends.

17. 70% of teenagers trust YouTube influencers more than traditional celebrities.

(Think with Google, Entrepreneur)

In a survey commissioned by Google, 70% of teens said they relate to YouTube influencers more than traditional celebrities. Influencers have a lot of power over millennials, too. Namely, 60% of them said they believe influencers understand them better than people in their lives.

Of all YouTube users, 60% said they would buy a product solely based on their favourite influencer’s recommendation. This is one of the most valuable social commerce facts for sellers, especially now that the site is rolling out YouTube Shopping, its own social selling platform.

18. 14% of social media users hear about new brands from online celebrities.

(GlobalWebIndex)

Rather than posting their own content, 20% of people use social media solely to follow their favourite celebrities. Of these users, 14% discover new products and brands thanks to these celebrities’ endorsements. Another 14% learn about them from product reviews celebrities post.

A recent report on social commerce trends found that 23% of social media users would buy influencer-promoted products if the posts they’re featured in have lots of positive comments and likes. Additionally, 13% would be more likely to purchase these products if there was a Buy button in the social app, further demonstrating consumers’ interest in social commerce.

Social Commerce Statistics - Wechat in a store

Social Commerce Trends in China

The most populous country in the world is also the one with the most internet users. With 854 million internet users and over $1.5 trillion in revenue in 2019, China is the world’s largest ecommerce market. Social commerce is developing fast, too, as you’ll learn in this section.

19. Social commerce stats for 2021 put the Chinese market at $315.5 billion.

(Statista)

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and nationwide lockdowns, China’s social commerce sales experienced an unprecedented rise in 2020. The social commerce revenue was estimated at CN¥3.7 trillion (about $570 billion), a staggering 66.5% increase from CN¥2.2 trillion ($343 billion) just a year before.

Compared to CN¥95 billion ($14 billion) in 2014, the country’s social commerce market grew by 190% in six years.

20. There were at least 795 million social shoppers in China in 2021.

(Statista, Accenture)

According to social commerce statistics for 2021, the market is booming. In fact, eight out of ten social media users in China participate in social commerce. On the other hand, most UK and US social media users have yet to make their first social commerce purchase.

21. Social media purchases will account for 14.3% of all online purchases in China by 2023.

(eMarketer, Statista)

The revenue generated from purchases made directly through social media accounted for 11.6% of China’s total ecommerce revenue in 2020. The social commerce market’s share in the country’s online retail market is projected to grow in the next few years, eventually reaching 14.3% by 2023. This growth is mainly spurred by WeChat, a Chinese social media platform with 1.26 billion active monthly users in 2021.

22. According to social commerce statistics, there are 3.2 million WeChat Mini Programs.

(Business of Apps)

Back in 2017, WeChat launched Mini Programs, an app-within-an-app feature that allows brands to advertise and sell directly to consumers. Users only have to find a brand they like and link their WeChat account to the brand’s Mini Program to start interacting with it. Currently the app has more than 3.2 million Mini Programs and approximately 450 million daily active users.

23. The total number of transactions through WeChat’s Mini Programs grew 897% in 2021.

(Bloomberg, PYMNTS)

WeChat’s Mini Programs are among the best social commerce examples out there as they allow brands to engage directly with consumers. At least 900 million people in China currently use WeChat Pay as their go-to payment method.

Moreover, China is beginning to implement digital yuan by launching a digital wallet in 2022. The digital currency would be compatible with WeChat and Alipay, the two largest mobile payment apps. This could bring previously unthinkable changes to the social commerce landscape.

Social Commerce Statistics - Fashinable woman holding a purse

Social Commerce Statistics and Projections: Final Thoughts

As you can gather from this overview, social commerce is still in its early days, at least in the West. With more and more people relying on social media platforms and valuing convenience above all, selling via social apps is the logical next step for every brand looking to stay afloat in today’s tough market.

Most social platforms are now introducing their own direct sales platforms, allowing brands to enter the social selling game with minimum investments. All they need are creatively designed online marketing campaigns—and maybe an influencer or two to help them attract customers.

FAQ

What is social commerce?

When talking about social commerce, marketers mostly refer to selling and buying goods via social media apps. However, this term has a much broader meaning and encompasses many different ways businesses can use social media for advertising and selling their products.

For example, sites like Groupon are considered social commerce platforms for their social component—users can buy items at a discount, but only if they team up with other site users.

Social commerce also includes selling via websites with social features (e.g., live chat and user reviews), peer-to-peer selling through sites like eBay where the seller and the buyer can talk to each other directly, and ecommerce purchases made through links posted on social media.

How common is social commerce?

Social commerce is commonplace in the Asia-Pacific region, and less so in Europe. However, 30% of worldwide ecommerce companies already sold on social media in October 2020, while 12% planned to utilise social commerce in 2021.

How is ecommerce related to social commerce?

Social commerce is a subtype of ecommerce. Whereas ecommerce takes place on specialised websites, social commerce takes this entire process of buying and selling goods online and moves it to the social media landscape.

With social commerce, merchants can sell their products and services directly through social media. At the same time, consumers can buy anything they see on their favourite social media app without leaving it or using external sites.

What are the most important social channels for B2B research?

46% of marketers named Facebook as the most important channel for B2B marketing. LinkedIn and Instagram followed with 33% and 12% respectively, while Youtube was near the end of the list with 4% of marketers stating it was their main social marketing channel.

How big is the social commerce market?

The social commerce market size was at $492 billion in 2021. Social commerce is the future of commerce, as it’s expected to reach $1.2 trillion by 2025—more than two-and-a-half times its current worth.
How fast is social commerce growing?

Social commerce is growing at a projected CAGR of 26% and this rate of growth is expected to continue until 2025. The fastest growing markets will be developing markets such as Brazil and India.

How will social commerce impact businesses?

According to social commerce statistics, this way of selling goods will benefit businesses in many ways. First of all, social media will keep attracting new users, giving marketers access to a broader audience. Social media commerce also increases website traffic, creates more organic engagement, and improves customer retention and loyalty. Finally, this type of selling provides marketers with valuable metrics and insights for future marketing campaigns.