Social media is the new Shopify

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Online shopping was our only option for a significant period of 2021, and retailers quickly jumped onboard ‘in platform shops’ by recognising the need to sell directly where their audience is - on social media. Now, Hootsuite is predicting that social will become the heart of the post-pandemic shopping experience in 2022.

Small businesses, in particular, have found value in social storefronts, making it easier for their highly engaged audiences to make a purchase. During lockdowns, they relied on social storefronts just to survive as they created vital revenue streams. Now social commerce is a way of life for many businesses and their consumers.

Our upcoming dominant consumer age group, people aged 16-24, rank socials higher than search engines when it comes to brand research with 53.2% of respondents within this age group in Hootsuite’s Digital 2021 report identifying social networks as their main source for brand research. Forbes also found that two-thirds of shoppers do at least some of their shopping on social media.

Senior Director of Marketing and Cofounder of Heyday, Etienne Merineau said “social is the interface of commerce and the backbone of the new customer experience” and “now it is the brand’s voice. It is its core platform to engage with, sell to, and service customers.”

Social commerce means consumers don’t have to navigate from an app to a browser and then back to the app. Instead, they complete the purchase and return right back to the feed they were viewing. Offering consumers the option to checkout within a social network is key to the shopping experience, as being able to discover, research and buy on socials removes the friction completely. For brands new to social commerce, this redefined customer experience is an opportunity they cannot afford to miss.

It’s time to open up shop! 12% of survey respondents identified ‘using social to drive conversions’ through eCommerce features and social shopping, as the most exciting opportunity in social in 2022. Will your business be transitioning to social commerce?