Convenience Is Curation
Social commerce has made ecommerce available to every age and income group across the country. With changing audience behaviour, brands are investing more in their social media footprint. Paypal’s recent survey indicated that India is the leading Asian market for social commerce. Moreover, as per a report by Redseer Consulting, social commerce in the country is expected to rise to more than USD 7 billion in GMV by 2025 as the number of online shoppers, particularly from tier 2 cities and beyond, continues to rise.
Social Commerce, Defined
It is the practice of selling products directly through social media platforms. Unlike outdated social media marketing models, there is no rerouting is involved, and users can select, shop and checkout directly within the platform.
It is far more modernised and, thanks to chatbot checkouts and autofill for payments and delivery details, purchases seldom take more than a handful of clicks. As per the report from EY, before lockdown, 56 per cent of consumers disclosed researching online well before buying the products in-store. This figure rises to 72 per cent if we look at the consumers aged 18-25 years. Furthermore, the lines between promotion and commerce have blurred.
Customers are browsing across a range of digital channels from Google to Instagram, Facebook to Amazon.
With the exponential growth of digital-savvy population, has become imperative for the brands to showcase their latest offerings. It not only includes brands’ followers but also, potential customers who can be targeted via paid ads and endorsed posts.
Communication To Transaction
As per data from the Hootsuite blog, Indian users today make up for a striking portion of users worldwide digital platforms and are a key target the market for the brands. Following are some examples of how some of the Indian startups have used social commerce as a medium to grow their business:
Trell is a short video app focusing on lifestyle and entertainment. It has a social commerce platform to make the most of the attention in this subset of ecommerce. App users can buy personal care products and makeup essentials on the platform.
Meesho is one of the earliest startups and a growing name for social commerce in India. They have managed to make a network of almost 2 million sellers on social media, out of which a major chunk (80%) are women.
Horizon Watch
With digital platforms experiencing exponential growth in India, calls for more avenues of product discovery and bespoke experience. We need to ensure the following:
• Be present where sales happen
• Produce engaging content which also acclimates to a global audience
• Marry the customers’ needs with platform specialism
Brands are increasing their attention on the customer experience to drive competitive gains. They will leverage digital enablers such as mobility, augmented reality and virtual reality, advanced analytics, the internet of things and digital advertising to revolutionise the sector.
Given the robust growth in the industry, the growth of this sector will be driven by increasing users for OTT content and games.
Social platforms such as Facebook, Snapchat, and Instagram have now become the ideal place for prospects of modern-day vendors. Instagram stands out in the sense that it has
been providing a more personalised experience to users.
Consumers are inclined towards user-generated content much more than traditional ways of marketing. Hence, social commerce is likely to see better acceptance towards UGC-driven marketing.
Vernacular content will continue to be the most important factor that will help in attaining greater penetration in this section.
The growth of internet and social commerce will be driven by developing markets. The maximum progress is predictable to come out of emerging markets in the APAC section, driven by high internet usage in evolving economies.
Words Of Caution
With the increasing amount of data creation, internet and social commerce companies may face a privacy contradiction. There is a constant fear of hacking and compromising of user accounts across social media.
Covid-19 affected the sector in several ways. It injects ambiguity into the supply chain, causing a shift in demand between different markets and hence disrupting the capital markets overall.
Whether the customers are actively looking for online marketplaces or just browsing through newsfeeds, they are always ready to buy, and inspiration can strike anytime. It is the brand’s job to ensure that they are present in that moment – ready to motivate with content, persuade with the promotion or upsurge the customer’s prospects with a dedicated space that provides a whole new world of opportunity.
The author is Aayushi Singh, Partner – Digital, DDB Mudra
