29 Stats Proving How Social Commerce is Impacting Retailers

Social commerce has become an unstoppable force in retail marketing.

Broadly defined as the use of online social networks to help in the buying and selling of goods and services, social commerce has come to encompass social media marketing and ads, online ratings and reviews as well as in-app shoppable social content experiences.

Here at Stackla, we’ve expanded this definition by enabling brands to also easily find and feature compelling and relevant user-generated content (UGC) from across the social web directly on their ecommerce sites, making that content shoppable with customizable ShopSpots that help to shorten the path to purchase.

In today’s world, where there are more channels than ever for people to discover, research and purchase products, marketers supremely value the ability to expedite the buyer’s journey — and social commerce, in all its forms, does just that.

When done properly, it can be the ultimate win-win scenario for both consumers and retailers. The customer receives a highly relevant and frictionless shopping experience, and the retailer builds trust while making a quick sale to the right person at the right time.

Since social commerce is revolutionizing retail marketing, we’re pulling together the top social commerce stats that prove just how impactful it has been and will undoubtedly continue to be.

Social Networks Drive Product Discovery

60% of people discover new products on Instagram (Instagram)
200 million+ Instagram users visit at least one Business Profile daily (Instagram)
130 million Instagram users tap on shopping posts to learn more about products every month (Instagram)
78% of U.S. consumers say they’ve discovered products on Facebook (Curalate)
77% of weekly Pinterest users have discovered a new brand or product on the platform (Pinterest)
66% of consumers have been inspired to purchase from a new brand after seeing social media images from other consumers (Stackla)

Social Content Influences Consumer Purchasing Decisions

87% of people say social media helps them decide what to buy (16Best.net)
79% of peoplle say UGC highly impacts their purchasing decisions, while only 12% say branded content and 9% say influencer content is impactful (Stackla)
59% of consumers say user-generated content is the most authentic type of content, while 88% of consumers say authenticity is important when deciding which brands they like and support (with 50% saying it’s very important) (Stackla)
62% of people said they have become more interested in a brand or product after seeing it in Facebook stories (Facebook)
Customers are 6x more likely to purchase a product if the page includes pictures from social media. (AdWeek)
55% of U.S. consumers have bought a product online after social media discovery (Curalate)
83% of weekly Pinterest users have made a purchase based on content they saw from brands on Pinterest (Pinterest)
80% of consumers say they’d be more likely to purchase a product from an online store if its website had photos and videos from real customers (Stackla)
65% of consumers have purchased apparel or fashion items based on UGC from real customers (Stackla)
53% of consumers have purchased beauty, health or wellness products based on UGC (Stackla)
42% of consumers have purchased home or sporting goods based on UGC (Stackla)
58% of consumers have left an ecommerce store without purchasing because the site didn’t contain any customer reviews or photos (Stackla)

Social Commerce Improves Retail Engagement, Personalization and Sales

49% of retailers engaged in social commerce say it helps them personalize customer experiences based on behavior and increase the visibility of their product listings (eTail / Stackla)
89% of U.S. social referral traffic to eCommerce sites comes from Facebook, 10.7% comes from Instagram and 8.2% comes from Pinterest (Adobe)
Retail conversions increase 133% when mobile shoppers view positive customer content like reviews (Bazaarvoice)
47% of Gen Z say they would be more likely to continue engaging with and purchasing from a brand if it shared their photos or videos throughout its marketing (Stackla)

Retail Brands Are Embracing & Advancing Social Commerce

50% of retailers are working to align social media advertising with their overall eCommerce strategy (eTail / Stackla)
75% of retail brands will increase or maintain their investment in social media marketing within the next 12 months (eTail / Stackla)
Instagram is a preferred platform for 92% of retailers engaged in social commerce, followed by Facebook (77%), Twitter (57%), and Pinterest (47%) (eTail / Stackla)
Instagram is projected to earn $12.32 billion in ad revenue in 2020 and Facebook is expected to earn $21.39 billion in 2020 U.S. ad revenue (eMarketer)
Social media advertising is expected to account for 13% of total global ad spend and rank as the third-largest advertising channel, behind TV and paid search (Zenith)
U.S. marketers spend 69% of their Instagram ad budget on newsfeed ads and 31% on paid Stories (eMarketer)
Pinterest generated over $1 billion in ad revenue in 2019 (Statista)