Recently, we reviewed data that showed how consumers are still resistant to making final online purchases on mobile devices.  There is more traffic and research happening on mobile, but people go to their PCs to make a purchase.

Part of this is attributed to how social media fits into the buying process.  Obviously, people are on social media platforms where they’re exposed to products they’re interested in.  But the transition from social media use to converting on a website landing page is full of leaks, not the least of which is that the person has to reboot their effort on another device.

Beyond that, there is the simple problem that completing a transaction on a phone – typing with your thumbs – is cumbersome.  That minimal hangup is enough to discourage many shoppers.

This, of course, will never do.  There is no way eCommerce merchants are going to let billions in sales slip away because of check-out leaks.

Enter one of the major evolutions happening in eCommerce:  social commerce.

What is Social Commerce?

Social commerce is a sales transaction system that is native to the social media platform itself.

That’s a fancy way of saying you can buy products you encounter on Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest without having to exit to an eCommerce website.

Say you’ve taken up an interest in Cajun cooking and started following a few celebrity chefs on Facebook.  You like and share some of the recipes.

Facebook recognizes your interest and starts putting ads for cookbooks in your News Feed.  One day just the right one shows up, and it’s on sale.

With a stripe or Paypal account, you can buy this cookbook right there on Facebook, with just the touch of your thumb.

The goal:  to get more people to buy directly on social and avoid the leaks that happen when they hesitate, thinking they’ll buy it later on their desktop.

Setting Up Social Commerce

Setting up social commerce sales for your eCommerce business is fairly simple.

eCommerce platforms like Shopify work best because they have apps which integrate into the shopping platforms.  Within the platforms you’ll be able to:

• Upload products, product info and descriptions.
• Curate and customize your catalog page.
• Sell directly from your page.
• Manage orders.
• Get analytics data.

At this point, it’s not generally advised that you just dump your entire product line onto Facebook and open shop.  Instead, what you’ll want to do is match up your content creation and advertising efforts with specific products you want to sell through social commerce.

For example, say you have a new product line to introduce.  You could run a retargeting campaign on Facebook that targets only existing customers.  Tie this campaign into your Facebook store so people could make this purchase directly from Facebook.

Why eCommerce Needs to Get Social

The importance of social commerce goes beyond making checkout seamless.

One of the differences between eCommerce and physical retail shopping is that the latter is an inherently social activity.  Friends and family go shopping together, getting suggestions and sharing ideas.

Heidi Cohen of Actionable Marketing Guide notes:

“While shopping is essentially a social experience, think girls shopping at the local mall, online shopping is distinctly not social. Yet, regardless of where the purchase is made, many shopping decisions involve more than one individual’s input, be it a couple, parent and child, or friends.”

Think of all the ideas, suggestions, tips, and comments on social media that connect to a potential product.

The real pot of gold with social commerce will be how it turns social users into advertisers.  What was once just a “word of mouth” recommendation will now come with a click to buy button.

On Pinterest, 80% of pins are repins.  For an advertiser, that means you run a promoted pin, but 80% of the exposure you’ll get is from repins that you don’t pay for.

The shareable nature of social media is Nirvana for advertising.  You put your product out to a target audience, then let them spread it to their networks, where it’s no longer an advertisement, it’s a recommendation from a friend.

Mobile Commerce

It’s impossible to ignore the trends towards mobile internet use.  Mobile activity has surpassed desktops, and as digital natives growing up with phones in their hands become a major demographic, it will dominate the way we connect online.

The data mentioned above about how people tend to research on mobile then buy on desktops is a blip.   As people get used to being able to buy products they see online with just a few clicks on their mobile screen, they’ll love the convenience.

The security concerns will pass, just as they have for online shopping in general.  5 years ago many people hesitated to make an online purchase just because they didn’t want to put their credit card number into cyberspace.  Now it’s an everyday thing for most of us.

The potential marketing boon for small, niche eCommerce businesses is really exciting.  It means they can tie into the pull of massively popular sites like Facebook and Pinterest.

In the future, the entire internet may become like one big Amazon store.  The shopping experience will be seamless with everything else we do online; it will be incredibly easy to buy stuff right from your phone, whether you’re on Facebook or reading the news.

Might be time to start planning some campaigns targeting impulsive, spontaneous buyers.