Sales will exceed 36 billion U.S. dollars, and social e-commerce in the United States will still be very popular in 2021!

The rapid growth of e-commerce due to the pandemic has in turn boosted the development of social commerce in the U.S. As major social commerce platforms gradually improve their shopping and checkout functions, this market is expected to continue to grow.

Social e-commerce has great potential

eMarketer predicts that total social e-commerce sales in the United States will increase by 34.8% in 2021 to US$36.09 billion, accounting for 4.3% of total US e-commerce sales .

In addition, a survey conducted by eMarketer in January this year showed that the number of social e-commerce buyers in the United States increased by 25.2% to 80.1 million in 2020, and is expected to increase by another 12.9% to 90.4 million by 2021 .

In the following years, although the growth rate of the number of social e-commerce buyers has been declining year by year, the number has continued to increase and will exceed 100 million by 2023.

(Image source: eMarketer)

Current Status of Social E-commerce Development

From the platform perspective :

Instagram and Pinterest offer the most relevant social commerce experiences for brands, but Facebook, Snapchat, and TikTok are all actively developing commerce capabilities on their platforms.

However, many users still only see platforms such as Pinterest and TikTok as places to select their favorite brands, and do not shop directly on the platforms.

From the consumer's perspective:

A survey conducted by eMarketer and Bizrate Insights last year showed that as of August 2020, 36% of US social media users had used the platform for shopping, but only 9% of users regularly shopped on social e-commerce platforms .

(Photo courtesy of Retail Brew)

From the product point of view :

Generally speaking, brands with new and differentiated products and /or a desired image are best suited to thrive in a social commerce environment .

Apparel / accessories remains the largest category in social commerce, but consumer electronics , cosmetics , home decor , and daily consumer goods are also major players in social commerce .

Social e-commerce marketing strategy

Brands that want to drive social commerce sales need to consider content /creative , strategy , audience expansion and conversion . In addition, brands must develop a measurement strategy to verify whether their efforts are working.

Even if a product doesn’t convert on social platforms, a social commerce strategy can influence purchases on other e-commerce platforms and in-stores days or weeks after exposure.

In this regard, eMarketer chief analyst Andrew Lipsman said that promotion on social media is essential in 2021, especially for fashion or accessories brands.

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