Social shopping involves the intersection of commerce and social media. What exactly is it, how do people utilize it, and what implications does it hold for today’s small and medium-sized businesses?
In essence, social shopping merges online commerce with social media, enabling users to make direct purchases through social shopping platforms like Instagram, Facebook, Tagshop etc. This involves creating specialized posts containing links to product pages. Some platforms, including Instagram and Facebook, offer the option to establish shop pages, providing access to comprehensive ecommerce tools for selling directly on the platform.
Given that the average user in the US dedicates slightly over two hours daily to social media, these platforms become highly conducive for online retailers. They serve as fertile ground to connect with the target audience, foster engagement, and facilitate seamless purchases all within a single space.
Estimates indicate the social commerce market in the United States will grow from $29.3 billion in 2020 to $84.2 billion in 2025, an annual growth rate of 47%.
These platforms are the new hotspots for connecting with customers in an impactful manner and making shopping a social experience. It’s a shift from just selling to actively engaging with customers, making Social Selling a vital strategy for ecommerce businesses.
What Are Social Shopping Platforms & Apps?
Social shopping platforms & apps are much more enormous on the commerce spectrum than the name social shopping suggests. These are platforms and apps that allow brands to convert their social content shoppable. Social shopping comes with many benefits for brands and users.
With social media shopping, users no longer have to go through the tiresome process of discovering and exploring products on the e-commerce website. Instead, they can easily find look inspirations through a shoppable gallery of social content integrated into the website.
Users can simply find product details, more so, directly jump onto the product page by clicking on to the posts of the gallery, making the purchasing process 3X simpler, product discovery 50% quicker and increasing brand’s AOV (average order value) by 46%.
Not just that, businesses have witnessed higher customer engagement rates. It brought their brand to a global stage, improved customer loyalty, and boosted their conversion rates.
Aren’t you feeling tempted to use social shopping apps and platforms for your brand too?
Here are six social media shopping apps & platforms, and apps you can try for your brand to get more sales, traffic, and revenue.
Top 6 Social Shopping Platforms & Apps
Here, we have listed the 6 best social shopping platforms and sites that you can leverage today to turn social media into a shoppable experience.
1. Tagshop
Tagshop is growing to become the most popular Social Shopping platform. It enhances e-commerce websites with promising shoppable galleries, such as shoppable UGC, shoppable Instagram feeds, and shoppable emails. These features provide memorable social media shopping experiences to website visitors while they stay on the website.
These shoppable galleries provide authentic social media content that attracts users to explore your products. They also have a newly added feature called shoppable hotspots, which allows you to add product tags in the shoppable galleries, helping users reach the product’s page without exploring the entire website.
Not only that, features link Shopon.Bio by Tagshop helps brands create a gallery of Instagram or TikTok content and link them together to create a shoppable feed. This link can then be added to the brand’s social media bio, making it easier for users to explore products and shop them. All this has maximized conversion and boosted brand engagement rates like never before.
Key Features:
Advanced AI-Filters
Get Ai recommandation for each post
Easily Get UGC Rights
Send personalized request for ugc rights
Enable SnapUp
Collect social content directly from customersÂ
Find content creator
Save time and get in touch with real content creators
Product Catalogue Management
Manage all products from one platform
Google Analytics & UTM Tracking
Setup Google analytics and track all conversions
What People Say About Tagshop
We have been using Tagshop Shopify app for our company’s e-commerce business. The tool is brilliant, especially for managing Instagram content and making it shoppable.
Shoppable galleries have enhances our customer experience. They provide a visually appealing and interactive way for customers to explore our products. Tagshop is a must have tool.
2. Shoppable Instagram
Instagram is a widely loved social media platform and one of the most popular social shopping networks. Users enjoy exploring the visuals it offers, and Instagram has now introduced its shoppable features.
This allows brands to convert their business accounts into shoppable storefronts. The goal is not to forge the users’ social experience but enhance it with social shopping. Everything is the same, brands can upload images of their products just like they used to, but now they can tag these products as shoppable.
Must Read: How to Embed Instagram Feed on Website
Users can click on these tags and reach the description page. Also, within a few more clicks, they can purchase the product hassle-free without leaving the app.
3. Pinterest Pins
When it comes to visuals, Pinterest is everyone’s, first love. That’s because it offers some highly inspiring and influential content to the users and allows brand discovery. Pinterest has recently introduced its Pinterest buyable pins. It is similar to Instagram’s shoppable posts, and brands can tag their product pins as shoppable.
What attracts the users is that along with getting inspired, they get to purchase these inspirations. As brands, all you have to focus upon is the quality of your pictures, as Pinterest users are real visual content snobs.
4. Facebook Shops
The most populated platform, Facebook is the oldest and the most reliable social media platform. Facebook introduced its buy button in 2014, but it was only until 2018 when Facebook introduced an entire marketplace. This marketplace called Facebook shops focuses primarily on small businesses and uplifts them with free services.
Businesses can create personalized and branded storefronts and facilitate shopping through the messenger app, highly preferred by the users. Facebook provides the perfect social shopping experience and provides valuable insights. This enables brands to understand consumer’s shopping behavior and work accordingly.
Additionally, the impact of social media on workplace safety can also be leveraged on platforms like Facebook to spread awareness, share safety tips, and create a culture of responsibility in workplaces.
5. Snapchat
The platform – Snapchat is a popular social media store and new to the social commerce landscape, but the features it offers are promising. Snapchat comes equipped with AI technology that makes filters look realistic. Brands can create filters for their products and embed a product link along with them. Users can try these filters as if they are trying on the product. If they like it, they are more likely to click on the embedded link to explore more.
It creates possibilities for eyewear brands or makeup brands that usually focus on the face. The Product link can be integrated with the story and users can shop the product through snapchat story with easy tagging. It enables the users’ friends to click on the link too.
6. Meesho
Meesho is the popular social commerce app for people who have good social contacts and are willing to act as resellers for wholesalers. Users get products at wholesale prices, and they can share these products among their social contacts on WhatsApp and other social media platforms and share the product’s price by adding their margin.
It is a very empowering opportunity for people who want recognition as businesspersons. They don’t require any resources other than a smartphone with the Meesho app and an internet connection. Everything else is done by Meesho.
Read More: 13 Best Video Shopping Platforms
Conclusion
Social commerce sales in the United States are expected to rise to over $35 billion this year, an increase of 34.8%. While the world is equipping with the all-new social shopping platforms and apps, why are you still here wondering about it?
We gave you the perfect examples of social shopping platforms and apps. It is time to choose the most suitable one for you and get set going on this trail of endless sales, traffic, and revenue!
FAQs
A social shopping platform is an online platform that integrates social media elements with ecommerce, allowing users to discover, shop, and share products through social content.
Social shopping is a popular selling strategy for ecommerce and the benefits include increased product discovery, product inspiration, peer recommendations, interactive shopping experiences, enhanced brand engagement, and the potential for viral marketing.
Tagshop is the best social shopping platform that allows users to seamlessly collect and curate a gallery of social content and integrate it into their ecommerce touchpoints, such as, homepage, product pages, emails, and more.
There are various popular brands across industries using social shopping as a major strategy in their sales and marketing efforts including major players like Nike, Fenty Beauty, ASOS, and H&M, leveraging platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and ecommerce integrations.
Social shopping is crucial for eCommerce due to its ability to boost sales, enhance brand visibility, foster customer engagement, gather insights, and adapt to evolving consumer behaviors and preferences. It’s an essential aspect of modern ecommerce strategy.
