When it comes to shopping, most of us rely on online mediums, be it a website, marketplace, third-party forms, or social media.
For most people, online shopping is nothing new. We have seen e-commerce websites like Amazon, AliExpress, Ali Baba, and Temu making rounds online. These sites have some of the richest owners, which indicates the success of e-commerce.
However, in the last few years, there has been a new kind of online shopping. Now, people no longer want to shop via established e-commerce stores; instead, they rely on social commerce. Social media networks that were once used just for advertising are now being used for establishing brands and selling things.
This leaves a question. Will the rise of social commerce kill e-commerce?
If you are also an online shopper interested in the evolution of online shopping, keep reading. This write-up will address some of the most important questions related to online shopping, elaborate on the differences between both, their challenges, opportunities, and what makes each better.
E-Commerce And Social Commerce: What is The Difference?
E-commerce, or electronic commerce, mainly uses the power of the internet for selling and buying things. When the internet became popular and residential internet became accessible for everyone, companies started focusing on their online presence.
This helped businesses to grow and reach a much diverse audience. Today, businesses are aware of this diversity so much that they have started offering customer support in multiple languages. For instance, Xfinity is an internet service provider that offers Xfinity Servicio al Cliente for its Hispanic customers.
This led to a whole new era where websites were designed to help people buy the goods of their choice with just a few clicks. E-commerce helped in simplifying the shopping process by making it easier, faster, and cost-effective. Shoppers no longer had to stand in queues, travel to malls, or waste their time; instead, goods were now delivered to their doorstep with just a few clicks. Moreover, it helped the business reach a global audience without spending a lot of money on operations.
For advertising the product on these e-commerce stores, marketers used social media platforms. These social media platforms soon became the only viable way to bring traffic to the sites and maximize sales. This made businesses realize that while big businesses had a lot of money to spare on websites, user experience, marketing campaigns, and operations, small businesses were still struggling.
So, small businesses tried to cut the third-party sites marketplaces and aimed to reduce the cost by simply putting their products on their social media accounts and channels. This led to a new way of online shopping where customers no longer had to land on other websites, saving them a lot of time and effort.
Why Social Commerce Has Gained Hype?
Social commerce is a subset of e-commerce, which means it still comes under e-commerce. However, the way it is implemented and used has changed totally.
Previously, social media users would see the ads run by e-commerce stores. Users would then click on these ads, land on the stores, and buy products directly from the stores. Social media would just work like an ad tool. Now, social media platforms have launched their online apps in app stores.
This creates a win-win situation for the buyers as well as the sellers. How?
Well, this helps in cutting the cost of the site as well as maintenance for the brands. As a result, small businesses with limited budgets can easily utilize social media to build their business. This can also work as a way to check the scope of their business. Once they establish a decent clientele, they can also shift to an online website. In short, it can be used as a testing ground for businesses.
Similarly, for the customers, social commerce is reducing the overall time of shopping. Buyers can check the product online and buy with just one click rather than wasting time by landing on the site. Moreover, customers can easily get in touch with the store managers, ask questions, and check reviews on the same platform before making a purchase.
Top Social Commerce Websites
For social commerce, businesses are mostly relying on social media networking sites. However, not all social media sites can be used for buying and selling. Instead, sites that rely heavily on the video-based content format and have the lowest response time are mainly used for buying and selling things.
Here are some of the main social sites that are used as social commerce sites:
Facebook
Instagram
Tiktok
Snapchat
While most of these sites rely on short forms of content, there is another thing common to these sites that they have fully developed advertisement extensions. With the already used ads database, these sites have gathered enough data that can now be used for improving user experience. Moreover, these sites suggest products and services based on the online user behavior that they have already recorded.
Simply put, social commerce might seem like a trend, but it is here for the long haul. Most users also believe that it has the potential to replace e-commerce; however, keep in mind that social commerce is a type of e-commerce, so replacement is not an option.