The numbers speak for themselves: social media is becoming an increasingly important source of customers for online sellers, according to worldwide data from the Salesforce Shopping Index. In the second quarter of 2021, nearly a tenth (8.9%) of visits to ecommerce sites came from a social media platform. This share has steadily increased over the past two years and increased from 6.6% in the third quarter of 2019. This share is likely to increase further if the role of dark social platforms is included.
Even higher incidence for traffic from smartphones and tablets. For visits to ecommerce sites from tablets, 16% came from a social media platform, more than double the level of Q3 2019. For smartphones, 11.6% of traffic comes from social media.
As for Italy, according to Salesforce data, which is based on the analysis of more than 2 thousand ecommerce sites, 1 billion shoppers, who made 29 billion visits to ecommerce sites, at the end of the second quarter of this year, overall visits from social media to e-commerce sites were 13.5 percent. In the first six months of 2021, visits from smartphones exceeded those from tablets. Desktop visits are marginal.
Social commerce has grown in importance over the past couple of years, with Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Snapchat, TikTok, and YouTube all competing. Brands are recognizing this opportunity too, with influencers and livestream content being popular ways to attract audiences.
However, the cost of social media and ecommerce advertising is rising rapidly and this could be a challenge for advertisers selling online. This is a particularly intense challenge looking ahead as ecommerce becomes more competitive. As marketers invest more, it will also be crucial to rethink your brand’s role in digital commerce.
.