How to sell directly through Social Media

This PSFK guide is a social commerce report to help retailers and brands explore an expansive social landscape and begin experimenting with the various buying and selling formats.

Executive Summary

As social media takes a more central role in people’s lives as a way to connect and share, it has become arguably the most important channel for retailers and brands to raise awareness and drive action. As these tight knit communities grow in both influence and size, their evolution has seen them go from places to participate in conversations and build a following into marketing channels and de facto front doors to the wider online experience. More recently, however, the addition of new commerce tools and capabilities has transformed them into valuable storefronts to facilitate sales, meaning that users on popular platforms like Instagram and Pinterest can now discover a product and purchase directly within their feeds.

Report Overview

It’s an exciting time for retailers and brands to explore the expansive social landscape and begin experimenting with the various buying and selling formats. This is where a growing majority of consumers, particularly those in the younger demographic, are spending their time and attention and increasingly their dollars. This social commerce report provides six trends-led strategies highlighting innovation in the media space.

What You’ll Learn In This Report

• How platforms that are eager to monetize their users and create opportunities for brands to engage their target audience are rolling out a host of new features from shoppable content to live streamed events that combine education and social interaction with native shopping carts and checkout.
• New social commerce features help influencers of any scale to generate incremental income through affiliate links, transforming any casual fan or brand ambassador into a valuable sales channel.
• How brands and retailers are also testing out ways to bring the social aspect of in-person shopping onto their own digital platforms with tools that allow groups of friends to shop together from anywhere.
• How the mainstreaming of massively multiplayer games like Fortnite and Roblox has opened the door to an expanded marketplace for digital goods and the creation of immersive, virtual environments for shopping online.

What’s In This Report?

To help our community of retail insiders better understand how to sell through social media, PSFK has identified 9 key strategies.

This social commerce report includes:

• Six trends within this report highlighting innovation in social commerce
• 32 best-in-class examples from organizations leading the way through innovation
• Learnings from social media activations, that can be applied to any industry

Who Prepared This Report?

This social commerce report was developed by the same PSFK research department that since 2004 has provided trends-led innovation consulting advice to Apple, BMW, Facebook/Meta, Google, Microsoft, Samsung and Volkswagen.

Key Topics

Immersive Browsing

In an effort to recreate that experience of discovery within a physical store, retailers and brands will develop immersive, interactive, 3D platforms that allow remote shoppers to discover and learn about a brand and its products in highly-engaging ways.

Digital Identities

Coupled with the upsurge of virtual experiences as consumers’ lives transition into the digital realm, and the advances made in gaming and social technologies, brands and retailers are designing experiences and products to service consumers in their digital lifestyles. Customization, support of evolving styles, and outfit and appearance options that can be changed based on new interests or preferences, have become the key attributes consumers look for in creating avatars and online personas. Digital identities...

Shoppable Creative

The rise of social entertainment is driving brands and retailers to shift their strategies, embracing interactive formats that seamlessly combine elements associated with social media - video, chat, live streaming - with commerce-supported content, as they look to connect with consumers within their preferred channel or platform. As content dominates the online sphere, brands and platforms are taking notice, turning simple discovery occasions into shoppable ones. Brands and retailers can...

Influencer Affiliates

As more consumers turn to social media to discover new products, the people they follow from friends to influencers are an increasingly important source for trusted recommendations. The addition of new commerce tools has transformed marketing occasions and moments of inspiration into seamless purchase experiences, allowing creators of any level to begin earning commissions for the brands and products they support and shoppers to buy with one-click.

Social Shopping

Amid extended shutdowns and a changing store environment, consumers looking to replicate the social aspect of shopping are seeking out private group forums and virtual co-shopping platforms as a means to connect. To provide customers with a virtual peer-to-peer experience, brands and retailers are leveraging social media platforms and tech solutions to create virtual micro communities where fans can interact safely, and in real-time.

Featured Examples

Kraft-Heinz, Walmart, and Eko Partner For Shoppable Cooking Videos

Food and beverage company Kraft Heinz, multinational retail chain Walmart, and interactive storytelling platform Eko have partnered to create 11 real-time shoppable episodes for a new recipe-driven series hosted on Walmart’s Cookshop. The shoppable online videos provide the brand’s viewers with a technology-forward solution for healthy and convenient eating.

Dapper Labs & Genies Launching Digital Avatar Commerce Platform

Dapper Labs, the Vancouver-based digital collectible and blockchain experience company behind the incredibly popular NBA Top Shot and CryptoKitties NFTs, is partnering with celebrity-favored 3D avatar platform Genies to create a new marketplace for virtual goods, supported by Dapper Labs’ Flow blockchain.

American Eagle Goes Back to School With Snapchat In AR Campaign

Retailer American Eagle is debuting its new fall ‘21 back-to-school campaign, “Future Together, Jeans Forever,” by deploying an innovative virtual shopping experience powered by Snapchat.

Pinterest Positions New Idea Pins To Drive Sales For Creators

Popular social media platform Pinterest is building a new eCommerce space.

This PDF download includes:

• Six trends within this report highlighting innovation in social commerce
• 32 best-in-class examples from organizations leading the way through innovation
• Learnings from social media activations, that can be applied to any industry

Published on: Aug 6, 2021