You want that new jacket? Buy it in app without ever leaving…

This is where 2020 is headed and it couldn’t be better for online retailers, Social Commerce allows users to purchase products from retailers directly in-app without having to visit any third-party websites or homepages. Since the user already uses the app they would already have provided many of the fields needed for an online store such as their name, email, phone number etc this allows a very smooth and easy sale process for the user as all they would have to provide is their payment details and address which can usually all be pulled from one touch checkout using paypal.

A traditional website could have 10,000 visitors with 25% providing their email address to your newsletter, you then email that 25% with a new offer on your website but only 5% click through to view the offer with 3% ending up buying something. This leads to 1 purchase on your website, not very efficient right?

This is one of the main reasons social commerce is becoming such a huge tool for online retailers, if we take the same 10,000 people from before and instead we have them in a messenger chatbot, you send out an offer to your messenger bot audience that reaches 99% of your audience and with the open rate of messages on messenger being relativley high lets say 48% click through and 1% purchase something, that is a total of 35 website purchases. Impressive right?

All of this and more is made possible through social commerce being rolled out and even more placements across the Facebook ads suite allow marketing agencies to create stunning visuals that are interactive and enjoyable to use for the target audience of the advertising, this means a much higher conversion rate when a user interacts as it is not a tedious task and somewhat enjoyable and informative.

What does a social commerce store look like?

How a store looks like in an app depends on the platform it is on but below we have added some images of certain placements you may see on apps coming into 2020.

Facebook Carousel: 

Facebook Messenger Bot:

Instagram in post purchases:

TikToks a new platform on the block for advertising…

TikTok has taken the world by storm with available in over 150 countries and having over 1 Billion users this is a platform that will surely explode across marketing in 2020. Now releasing its own Ads platform we will see a huge rise in advertising on the platform with 60% of the users being Gen Z.

Ads made on the platform already take advantage of this by using eCommerce carousels selling products that would be suited to the age group. This allows a new channel of opportunity for businesses that sell items of interest to the GenZ age group such as clothing, games, novelty items etc

One of the major features that TikTok has decided to roll out within its adsuite is Social Commerce tools such as in app carosels allowing users to purchase products directly from inside the app following the route of platforms like Facebook and Instagram.

But does it make sense for my business?

Unless you are an online retailer this new trend won’t make much of a difference to your businesses strategy on social but as online marketing is changing so rapidly I am sure we will see new placements and platforms arrive in 2020 that will be suited to any business industry. If you do own a business that sells products online or are looking to start selling products online there is no better time than kick starting in 2020 with social commerce ad placements. As we looked at the conversion rate people are seeing using social commerce ads are so much better than what we have seen in the past with off app purchases.

How do I get started?

I would recommend putting your adspend into these placements alongside your current eCommerce strategy allowing at least 3 months to see any changes in revenue and click through, Start selling your lowest cost products through the social commerce placements as this allows a much lower threshold for your target audience to afford which in turn will result in more impulse purchases as the cost is so low. Once you begin to sell more products through the social commerce placement I would then start to load up the catalog with more items of medium level cost and then further on your high priced items, Keep in mind the higher the price of an item the higher the threshold is going to be for a user to impulse buy your product.