Social commerce will grow three times faster than traditional ecommerce #EspecialesIT

64% of social media users say they have made a purchase through social commerce in the last year, representing almost 2 billion social shoppers worldwide. More than half of these shoppers say they are more likely to support SMEs through social commerce than when shopping online.

According to Accenture's report Why Shopping's Set for a Social Revolution, the global social commerce industry will grow three times faster than traditional e-commerce, from $492 billion today to $1.2 trillion, equivalent to to 17% of all e-commerce spending. This growth is expected to be driven by Gen Z and Millennial social media users, who will account for 62% of global social commerce spending by 2025. In social commerce, the entire shopping experience of a person has place on a social media platform. 64% of social media users surveyed said they had made a purchase through social commerce in the past year, which Accenture estimates is almost 2 billion social shoppers worldwide. "The pandemic has shown how much people use social media as a starting point for everything they do online: news, entertainment and communication," according to Robin Murdoch, global industry leader, Software and Platforms, Accenture. "The steady increase in time spent on social media reflects how essential these platforms are to our daily lives. They are reshaping the way people buy and sell, providing platforms and brands with new user experience opportunities." and sources of income. Although this paradigm is important for large companies, individuals and small brands can also benefit. In this sense, 59% of social buyers stated that they are more likely to support SMEs through social commerce than when they buy on the web. Mind you, half of social media users indicate they're concerned that social commerce purchases aren't protected or properly reimbursed, making trust the biggest barrier to adoption, just as it was. for e-commerce in its early days. "Those who haven't used social commerce yet point to their lack of trust in the authenticity of social sellers as one reason holding them back, while active social commerce users point to return, refund and exchange policies as an area for improvement," says Oliver Wright, Global Leader of Consumer Goods and Services at Accenture. "Trust is a problem that will take time to overcome, but sellers who focus on these areas will be better positioned to increase their market share." The Accenture report notes that by 2025 the largest number of social commerce purchases globally it is expected in clothing (18%), consumer electronics (13%) and home decoration (7%). Fresh food and snacks also represent a large product category (13%), although sales are almost exclusive to China. Beauty and personal care, while smaller in terms of total social commerce sales, is projected to rapidly gain ground from e-commerce and capture more than 40% of digital spend on average for this category in key markets by 2025.