Shopping through social media channels is expected to explode in the next few years and open up opportunities for small players. According to a report from consulting firm Accenture, social commerce could grow 3 times faster than traditional e-commerce within the next 4 years. Social commerce is estimated to be worth $1.2 trillion globally by 2025, accounting for 16.7% of total e-commerce spending, according to Accenture.
Social commerce includes everything from in-app purchases made on brands and celebrities’ Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok pages to live-streamed shopping channels. Different from traditional e-commerce shopping, social commerce really balances the game between “big fish” like Amazon and “little fish” because it helps small businesses reach more customers easily.
Accenture experts write in the report: “Any brand, big or small, can sell through social commerce. Any individual can become or create their own brand and directly access the market. This has a huge positive impact on small businesses and entrepreneurs because they have access to a huge potential market that was not available before.”
A survey of more than 10,000 global social media users shows that 59% say they are more likely to shop from small brands when shopping on social networks than when browsing the web. 44% share they are more likely to buy a brand they have never heard of through social media channels.
Accenture’s report says that the math is changing significantly. Instead of a few big retailers and brands selling to millions of users, we see millions of small businesses and individuals selling to others in a huge social commerce ecosystem. As a result, big brands continue to face increased competition from thousands of small businesses.
China is a leader in social commerce in terms of both size and development. This country is paving the way for other countries. Accenture predicts that some developing markets such as India and Brazil will record the strongest growth in social commerce in the next few years.
The trend of shopping through social networks increased sharply during the Covid-19 epidemic as more people stayed at home and could not go to the store. Rob Garf, Vice President at Salesforce Retail and Consumer Goods, predicts social commerce will become the next hub of commerce. “Don’t ignore it,” he warned at an event in late 2020.
Meanwhile, Suketu Gandhi, a partner at management consulting firm Kearney, argues that the need for a more personalized and interactive shopping experience is the driving force behind change. “The website is dead. It is boring, lacks creativity, so there must be a replacement”, he commented.
According to BI
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