People shop online now, more than ever, and for many reasons. Apart from the convenience and the ease that it brings, the pandemic has further spurred shopping online along.
Stores are closed or they operate under restrictions and various guidelines imposed by the local authorities making shopping something that is not as enjoyable as it used to be for customers.
With more and more people preferring to shop online,
Social Media has included features that aid shopping in several of its platforms making social commerce a true force to reckon with.
There is new research from Tipser, which surveyed about 332 consumers in the U.S., U.K., and Germany.
They found that 58% of them said that they were open to the idea of buying products on Instagram if they had direct checkout. 35 % found the idea of shopping via Livestream, an appealing prospect.
74% of them said that they come to Social Media with an aim to be inspired. And when there is an opportunity for a customer to buy right at the point of inspiration, there is a tremendous success.
It is said that Social Commerce is an $89.4 billion market right now, and is projected to grow to $604.5 billion in the next seven years.
Let’s take a look at some social media platforms and what each of them is doing to add the shoppable component to their ads.
YouTube Shoppable Video Ads
YouTube Shoppable Ads is a new direct response ad format that makes ads on YouTube more “shoppable” by adding browse-able product images that link from the video directly to a brand’s own product pages.
Facebook Collection Ads
Facebook Collection Ads allow you to advertise a primary video or image with four smaller accompanying images in a grid-like layout that will allow your audience to tap on your collection ad, so they can browse or learn more about your products without leaving Facebook.
Instagram Ads with Product Tags
The Instagram Ads allows you to navigate your audience that clicks the ad directly to a product detail page to learn more or complete purchasing the product.
Instagram Ads with Product Tags and Checkout
The Instagram Ads with product tags and checkout allow a US checkout-enabled business to help those who click the ad to directly purchase the product without leaving Instagram
Pinterest Shopping Ads
The Pinterest Shopping Ads allow you to advertise either single image ads that promote a product relevant to people’s interests or multi-image ads that display a lifestyle image of your choice, followed by a group of products relevant to people’s interests
Shoppable Snap ads
The Shoppable Snap Ads are also known as Collection Ads, allow you to feature a collection of products within a single ad.
The audience can tap on each product image to get more product details.
Note:
We have long been waiting to see Facebook monetize WhatsApp.
Despite OilivierPonteville’s announcement,
Facebook will start rolling out ads in WhatsApp stories by 2020, we are yet to see that happen. However, Facebook’s recent privacy policy update is a strong indicator that it’s only a matter of time before ads are rolled out in stories. Given its relevance coupled with WhatsApp payment options, these are very likely to be shoppable ads.
It is easy to see,
why all these platforms are jumping on the social commerce bandwagon when you check some of these interesting stats –
- 130 million Instagram users tap on shopping posts to learn more about products every month (Instagram)
- 78% of U.S. consumers say they’ve discovered products on Facebook (Curalate)
- 77% of weekly Pinterest users have discovered a new brand or product on the platform (Pinterest)
Pinterest reveals that its pinners use its platform significantly to make purchase decisions as well as product discovery.
Source: Pinterest
YouTube is also becoming a key channel contributing to purchase decisions.
Source: ThinkwithGoogle
Source: Marketing Land
- This clearly shows that shoppable ads are silently growing.
- They are largely adopted by retailers thereby confirming that the future of shoppable ads is very bright indeed.
And why is that?
Benefits that Social Commerce brings to a Retailer
It makes e-commerce social
Customers can engage with the brand;
With their friends or peers, and read comments or reviews and if they decide to buy, make a purchase.
- It makes the whole shopping cycle instantaneous and simple: The consumer sees likes and converts, all in the same space. Retailers see that there is nothing to distract or deter the customer from making a purchase.
- It makes hyper-targeting and closure of the purchase cycle possible: Your target demographic is already there. It just makes sense to close the purchase cycle right there. And with all the data about them that a retailer has, hyper-targeting is possible.
Shoppable Ads have disrupted e-commerce as we know it, making it truly the next big thing for retailers.
Tell us what you think. Write to us at marketingfolks@xerago.com