Take a look at five social commerce trends for 2020 that could help improve your social commerce strategy for the year ahead

Social media continues to offer opportunities for brands to connect with consumers in new and interesting ways, across a wide variety of platforms. The number of people online, on mobile and on social has increased year-on-year. According to the Global Digital Report 2019: The number of internet users worldwide in 2019 is 4.4 billion, up 9.1% year-on-year. The number of social media users worldwide in 2019 is 3.5 billion, up 9% year-on-year. The number of mobile phone users in 2019 is 5.1 billion, up 2% year-on-year. It’s also worth noting that whilst the major platforms (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter) still dominate, there has been a rise in alternative platforms. As …

It's time for e-commerce marketers to start taking Pinterest seriously

Pinterest is about far more than collecting aspirational pictures of perfectly decorated rooms, stylized desserts, and faraway locales. With the introduction of buyable pins last year, the platform’s more than 100 million active users now also flock to the site to shop. Compared to other social networks, Pinterest users spend an average of 50 percent more. Many brands are already taking advantage: By the end of 2015, there were more than 60 million buyable pins. In 2016, buyable pins became available on mobile platforms, increasing shoppers’ ability to purchase anywhere at any time. While other social networks struggle to find ways to convince users to make purchases, Pinterest’s visual user interface makes it an ideal showcase for products of all kinds. Research by Shopify found 93 percent of Pinterest users utilize the site to plan purchases, almost like a vision board.

A Pinterest Home Run

Businesses of all…

What exactly are shoppable posts and how to get your product into the "explore" section?

Instagram has transformed from your ordinary social network into a powerful marketing tool within a couple of years. Every day business owners are coming up with new and creative ways to reach their target audience and boost sales while maintaining the entertaining tone of the platform. With 800 million active users during 2017, according to CNBC, Instagram is becoming one of the most popular social networks in the world. Such an inflow of users creates an incredibly attractive pool of potential customers for those savvy businesses that know how to wrap their head around innovation. [si_guide_block id="35932" title="Smarter Instagram marketing guide" description="Our guide to smarter Instagram marketing will help you create an integrated social media marketing strategy that will increase engagement to boost leads and sales."/] In response to brands actively promoting their image and products on the…

As well as creating demand through strong creative and large-scale reach, social media now enables consumers to instantly purchase what they see on their screens

For many of us today, we’re just as likely to buy something online as in a physical shop. E-commerce has consistently grown and developed over the last 10 to 15 years and it appears this trend is set to continue. With the likes of Amazon setting new standards all the time, we’ve never expected more from our e-commerce experiences. Over the same period, social media has exploded and now plays a significant role in our digital lives. [caption id="attachment_134921" align="alignnone" width="939"] [Image Source][/caption]Social media has revolutionized the way we consume information, communicate with friends and experience the world. In fact, we’re so…

A user's preferred social network factors heavily in their propensity to spend

There are many ways to try to assess the value of the customer and judge their propensity to part with their hard earned cash on your site. You could go by age, use location data or even job title if you have that data. One signal of propensity to spend which you may be overlooking is the users social media use. Data from QZ.com shows how average order value fluctuates widely between users of different social networks. Polyvore tops the list, which is hardly surprising given it's a site built around fashion and social commerce. If you aren't a fashion retailer it's not really relevant. However, Instagram could be relevant for all sorts of B2C verticals and has an average order value almost double that of the likes of YouTube and Google+. It's interesting how the networks really focused around visuals (Instagram, Pinterest,…

Using quizzes to drive e-commerce sales

Social media is a tricky too to apply. You can use social networks to engage your fans, conduct discussions or ask for the opinions, but at the same time it may be really hard to get a real profit out of your audience. Very often marketers are getting excited with ideas that are highly interactive, unfortunately, they lack it terms business sense. In this article I will show you how to create quizzes for social networks that will not only engage your users but also improve your sales.

Why quizzes?

Take a look at this infographic with 6 interesting quiz statistics to discover the potential of the quizzes:

First advantage: Personalization

Personalization is one of the most important triggers that can help to increase your sales. Consider an e-commerce site where the content that is shown…

Setting up the right process and tools to improve sales

Start up brand Tatu Couture design and manufacture luxury British lingerie which is sold through stockists in the UK, Paris and New York. Tatu Couture has a unique vision to push the boundaries of design and innovation with its trend setting luxury lingerie and designer body wear. All their goods are manufactured and hand finished in the UK.

Overview and Digital Strategy

Tonica supported Tatu Couture by creating a four stage strategy to increase digital presence. In addition to the stockist route, Tatu Couture were keen to increase their own direct sales, so we had two simple objectives for the work – to increase visits to tatucouture.com and increase sales from the site.

Social media campaign approach

Step 1 – Take Control Like many small to…

3 Examples suggesting future trends in multichannel social commerce

We’re always on the lookout for examples of new technology in action in the hope they’ll spark ideas or just because they may be a pointer to new trends. Here are a couple I’ve enjoyed recently, which combine digital technology in the offline world with the online world and include a social element. I’ve resisted the temptation to call these “multisocial” as some have…

Tesco Homeplus Virtual Supermarkets

You may have seen the  example in 2011 from South Korea of the virtual store in a subway? Well now (August 2012) we have the first example in the UK, this time it's Tesco in Gatwick. The idea is for those who like to plan ahead when they're waiting before they fly. Tesco says the idea "came from customers". I don't think so, more likely it's to raise awareness of home shopping amongst the…

New research shows potential for Facebook commerce?

Value/Importance: [rating=3] Recommended link: Ecwid/TNS Research You will have noticed that in 2011 there was a lot of hype about Facebook commerce with many companies announcing the launch of F-commerce stores. By 2012 we had moved from the peak of inflated expectations to the trough of disillusionment in the technology hype cycle. This disillusionment or “F*****d commerce” as Marketing Pilgrim put it, was shown with major US retailers like Gamestop, JC Penney, Nordstrom and The Gap all shutting their Facebook stores. Does this mean the end for F-commerce? Not necessarily. This new research suggests that F-commerce maybe moving along the slope of enlightenment.  The research from TNS, predicts that: "6.1% of online purchases over the next 3 years will be made via Facebook. Although only 4% of GB consumers have purchased goods from Facebook, the research showed that 40% would be happy to buy goods from Facebook if it…

A new social commerce report shows the potential

UK retailers that do not offer customers recommendations could be missing out on £9 billion in extra revenue according to a new report by nToklo. It seems that although 'social commerce' is an established concept, many retailers aren't fully tapping into it. There's no question that social commerce from a 'vendor' perspective (or social shopping from the 'consumer' perspective) is a hot area since: So many people have an online profile in one or more social networks Social graph APIs and tools have become available and it's getting easier to use the data within those profiles and encourage sharing According to the social commerce gurus at nToklo, the use of user generated content at multiple stages of the sales funnel could account for up to a 27 percent uptake in sales, and despite this only half of the…