Social Commerce 101: Tips, Trends & Tactics

Social commerce offers something radically different from traditional e-commerce by creating experiences which are not only interactive and social, but offer a seamless path-to-purchase. It removes the friction that results in having to self-navigate from content to product, and reduces abandoned cart items as well as high return rates. And best of all, it creates a real sense of community and connection when shopping. It's set to revolutionize the way we shop and will impact every brand, retailer and platform business. No one can afford to ignore it. But why is it so important? How can you leverage it for your brand and retail marketing?

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By 2025, social commerce will make up 16.7% of all online purchases.

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According to a study by Accenture, the social commerce industry is predicted to grow three times as fast as traditional eCommerce to reach $1.2 trillion by 2025. As social commerce opens up new omnichannel revenue streams and unique shopping experiences, many retailers have an entirely new way to connect with consumers, beat the competition and increase product revenue. 

Dreaming of making your brand go viral through social commerce? Make it happen - here’s everything you need to know in 250 seconds.

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Where did Social Commerce start?

China has been way ahead of us when it comes to live video shopping and other social commerce experiences. With a tech-savvy market of around 1 billion internet users, China has led the world in digital consumer markets for years. The overwhelming evidence of success in the East has not gone unnoticed by e-commerce businesses in the West. Consequently, live streaming is storming both the East and West in popularity as retailers tap into influencer streams or create their own shows to promote and sell retail products.

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The Definition of Social Commerce:

“Essentially, ANY digital experience in which social interaction meets a seamless path-to-purchase can be considered Social Commerce. That includes all kinds of shoppable experience formats such as livestream shopping, in-game shopping, and shoppable videos, for example.” – Sophie Frères, CEO of LiSA

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A Common Misconception

‍Social Commerce = Selling on Instagram, TikTok Facebook. WRONG!

Social Commerce is not solely about selling on social media. Whilst these are brilliant platforms which should of course be used to entertain, build communities and leverage reach there are a few major drawbacks. This is where video commerce and selling through a social media layer on your own e-commerce platforms comes into play. Next to owning the touchpoint - and the juicy first-party customer data that comes with it - they don’t have to share margins with another platform and it’s an excellent driver for loyalty. 
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“Pasta is just egg and flour. Football is 22 people chasing a ball. Life is death and taxes. That’s how people sound when they say #socialcommerce is an ad on social media.” 
- Akbar Karenga

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Social commerce is made up of several different elements that enable brands to cultivate and develop relationships with customers on their own platforms. This empowers brands and retailers to maintain trust, familiarity, and positive connections, while also boosting brand awareness, generating conversions, and engaging customers.

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What does Social Commerce Look Like in Reality?

From immersive virtual shopping experiences to personalized social ads, these strategies are designed to strengthen brands’ connections with their customers and drive tangible business outcomes.

Among the different social commerce formats, livestream shopping is by far the largest one. We see the power social video commerce formats can offer when combined brilliantly! For example, our client Charlotte Tilbury experiences conversion rates of up to 37% as their shows are inspiring, informative, playful, interactive, value-centric and keep customers coming back for more. The most important thing to keep in mind is that people value authenticity over any other factor to build trust.

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Shoppable Stories

With shoppable stories brands can create their own social-media-look-alike stories and clips that are shoppable on their own website or app. With LiSA’s help, the social experience has the same look and feel as Instagram for example, but here are the key differences you’ll benefit from by adding a tailormade interface to your website/mobile app:

✓ The brand keeps all the first-party data

✓ There are no cart injections or sharing of margins

✓ Seamless path to purchase

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Social Video Commerce

The see-now-want-now mentality displayed by modern consumers is driving the trend of video shopping that we see sweeping across e-commerce and online shopping platforms.

There's still something powerful about human connection and the value of discovery—wandering into your favorite store, having interesting conversations, learning stories behind the products and getting inspired. Live video shopping gives online shoppers all of this and more—check out these incredible benefits.

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What is LiSA and where do they fit in?

LiSA seamlessly blends social experiences and e-commerce transactions through a single path to purchase, all enabled by a single platform. Brands use LiSA’s solutions to create a bespoke social media layer on top of their e-commerce website/app to allow them to host live shopping shows, shoppable stories and posts.

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You’re most likely already creating great content for your social channels, so why not let us help you make your current video content shoppable and interactive - it will have up to 10x the conversion of a static one!

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Without us there would be no social-like media interface to enable this fun, engaging social shopping experience. Using social media channels is a complementary activity to bring audiences onto your native site. For ultimate convenience, you can manage all your social commerce marketing activities under one platform, within our user-friendly CMS dashboard.

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Why should E-commerce Stores start Social Video Commerce?

Due to poor, boring, static user shopping experiences, engagement rates via traditional e-commerce checkouts often drop. Developing a relationship with your customers, or at least making them feel connected to you and entertained is no longer an optional activity—it’s a must for success. 

Brands are always striving to improve their relationship with their target audiences by staying in frequent contact with them. In this digital age, live streaming has become a popular and effective way to stay connected to your customers. Shoppable video content allows businesses to receive instant feedback from their followers while streaming.

Advancements in live streaming technology have removed the barriers that once hindered personal connections with brands. For this reason, major retailers like Avon, Charlotte Tilbury, M&S and L'Oréal are rushing to us, to take advantage of this consumer desire to connect shopping with socialising. The result? Huge increases in revenue and exposure through shoppable content—take a look for yourself.

Simply put, social commerce formats like livestreaming, shoppable stories and posts can open up a world of opportunity for retailers. More brands in Europe and America are seeing the potential of building social commerce experiences to capitalize on in-platform sales. But a boost in sales is not the only reason why brands NEED to incorporate social commerce into their marketing and sales strategy.

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‍Interested in Revolutionising Your Brand with Social Commerce Now?

One thing's for sure: social commerce is a model you need to embrace, whether you do it today or in a few months after your competitors. If you’ve made it this far, you must be keen to develop new types of shopping experiences, increase your brand exposure and engage with your community through brand advocates and influencers/creators perhaps? By weaving together a mixture of creative social commerce ideas, you can captivate your audiences, enhance customer engagement and boost sales. You can go live with shoppable video content in the next 24 hours with LiSA - it’s that easy!

As one of the world’s leading social commerce platforms, we’re in the strongest position to help your brand identify the best formats based on your brand goals—just get in touch now and we’ll help you with every step.

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Any questions to this blog article? Please contact Kathrin Gering - kathrin@hello-lisa.com

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