With two consecutive years of growth exceeding 35%, will social commerce become a blue ocean market in the United States?

According to eMarketer's latest forecast for the social commerce market, social commerce sales in the United States will increase by 35.8% to US$36.62 billion in 2021. This maintains the high growth momentum of social commerce last year - the development of social commerce ushered in a blowout in 2020, with sales soaring by 38.9%. This is mainly due to the e-commerce boom brought about by the epidemic and the increase in social media consumption.

However, even according to this forecast, social commerce sales will still only account for 4.0% of the US retail e-commerce market this year , while in China, this figure is 13.7%. But this also means that the US social commerce market has huge growth potential. Judging from the number of consumers alone, social commerce has the potential to become a huge market in the United States.

According to eMarketer's forecast, Facebook is the number one social commerce platform in the U.S. It is expected that 22.3% of U.S. internet users, or 56.1 million people aged 14 and over, will make at least one purchase on Facebook in 2021. Meanwhile, 12.9% of internet users, or 32.4 million people, will make at least one purchase on Instagram. On Pinterest, the figure is 5.6%, or 13.9 million people.

With the expansion and improvement of functions, live streaming is expected to become the main driving force for the growth of social commerce. In China, the development of live streaming e-commerce has become increasingly mature, but in overseas markets such as the United States, live streaming e-commerce is still in its infancy. For example, social giant Facebook launched an e-commerce live streaming event called "Live Shopping Fridays" in May this year.

Facebook's event attracted many well-known brands such as Sephora, Abercrombie & Fitc, Bobbi Brown, etc. During the live broadcast, brands can cooperate with influencers to showcase their products, and consumers can click on the video page to display the product for details and choose to place an order directly or add it to the shopping cart.

Social e-commerce in the form of live shopping is booming in the United States. For sellers, they can seize the opportunity and catch a wave of rising traffic.

Some analysts believe that the development of social commerce in China can provide some reference for the United States, including live shopping, which also comes from China. However, due to the different behaviors and attitudes of consumers in the two countries towards digital shopping, social media consumption, online privacy and payment, sellers cannot completely copy the domestic experience.

Social Commerce

Live e-commerce

USA