Younger shoppers more comfortable with social shopping

Social shopping is a hybrid of eCommerce and social media. It is the practice of selling products and services directly to customers through social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook or TikTok. Businesses can integrate their product listing into the platforms to allow customers to browse, select and pay without leaving the social media app. Other ways businesses can sell through these channels are payment links, which can be embedded into chats or interactions which allows the customer to securely check out using a hosted payment service.

James King, head of professional services for Europe, Elavon, a global payments company, sees this innovation as key for brands that are online.

“If your business is not selling on social media, you’re missing out – that’s the pressure many business-owners feel, especially in the digital age. But it really does depend on what you’re selling, and who your key audience is.

“Social shopping has moved on from just using social media to market and entice shoppers with your products. Your customers can now complete the whole buying process through the platform – from selection and payment to delivery, returns and refunds, if necessary,” says King.

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Elavon ran a survey with more than a thousand shoppers in Ireland about the last impulse purchase they’d made through social media, and more than a third of adults – 37 per cent at that time – had never bought anything in this way.

Overall, younger audiences do seem more comfortable than older shoppers to buy through social media

—  James King, Elavon

“That’s no surprise really, as there’s still a lot of suspicion about buying and selling through social media, whether you’re a consumer or a business-owner. Given how relatively recent retail on social media is, there are generations who have lived most of their life without the concept and are happy to continue that way, and others where it’s been around their entire life, or most of it. Either way, while your core audience may have a strong reluctance to buy on social media right now, soon enough those who are comfortable will make up the entire market.

“But overall, younger audiences do seem more comfortable than older shoppers to buy through social media,” he says.

The same research showed that purchases via social shopping are not necessarily the cheapest, with the €20-€49 bracket being the “sweet spot”.

“Basically, if you are selling things that people really need, you’d be extending your market to every device in almost every pocket or hand,” says King.