What is Social Commerce

Social commerce was born thanks to the evolution of consumer purchasing behavior, which tends more and more towards making purchases online.

In practice, social commerce is a form of selling products or services that takes place through the web and uses social networks and interaction platforms to carry out online transactions.

The web 1.0 has evolved into web 2.0, allowing users to interact with and modify the contents of web pages.

Social commerce leverages the phenomenon of customer experience, in which it is the customers themselves who, by sharing their experiences with a certain product, suggest to the web what to sell effectively.

The customer is then 100% involved.

When the customer is satisfied with the products or services purchased, they spontaneously recommend them to their acquaintances, thus starting an endless chain: word of mouth.

Moreover, to share their experience, consumers have at their disposal various channels and tools to share their purchase and consumption experiences with other users: reviews, ratings, feedback, comments, and posting on social media.

Advantages of Social Commerce

Social commerce does not just promote the purchase of a product through a platform but involves all stages before and after the purchase.

Social commerce captures the user's attention, leads them to make a purchase, and up to loyalty.

Furthermore, it aims for full user engagement through social networks.

The social commerce studies its users by observing their online behaviors and preferences, thus creating the perfect shopping experience for them.

In fact, all the brands that rely on social commerce are certain to reach their intended target audience.

The last but not least advantage is the use of tailor-made videos or images:

• Advertising through influencers;
• Video tutorials explaining the product;
• Real images of the product;
• Analytics tools for data measurement.

Thanks to multimedia content, it is possible to achieve high engagement.

Difference between e-commerce and social commerce

 Social commerce, therefore, is a nuance of e-commerce.

What differentiates them?

We can define that e-commerce is an actual online platform where the sale of products and services takes place.

It is a website through which to carry out the economic transaction.

The website, therefore, provides a catalog of products and allows for payment and thus online purchase.

E-commerce and social commerce are interconnected because social commerce exists thanks to e-commerce.

In fact, social commerce involves word-of-mouth among users who might be interested in knowing that there is a certain store selling specific products.

The social networks most popular in social commerce today are: Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, and Facebook.