Social Commerce

There’s little doubt that online shopping is on the rise. It’s convenient, there's unlimited choice, and consumers find it easier than ever before to find a bargain. In fact, in 2018 global online sales increased 18 percent, reaching almost $3 trillion. By 2024, the total transaction value of remote payments for digital and physical goods…

Do you truly enjoy shopping? In my experience, fewer than half the people I ask answer this question with a “yes.” Contrast this to how it feels to have made a truly meaningful purchase. The kind of purchase that feels personal and special, whether you’re buying it for yourself or as a gift for someone…

b8ta, the experiential retailer and pioneer of retail as a service (RaaS), is launching a new community-driven fashion and lifestyle retail concept focused on discovery and meaningful engagement. The store, called Forum, is opening in Los Angeles on Nov. 15, and will connect the modern consumer with forward-thinking brands that prioritize quality, design and sustainability.…

It’s safe to say that in today’s consumer landscape, customers don’t only look at one form of marketing when making a purchasing decision. They amalgamate a number of factors such as advertising, word-of-mouth, sponsorships, brand, and social proof, the latter possibly the most important of the bunch. Social proofs such as reviews, social likes, “trusted…

While retailers are doing plenty of creative things with organic (i.e., free) Instagram Stories already, on the paid side, Stories ads have officially taken off in a material way for the first time since their 2017 release. The Instagram business page about Stories ads states: “ … of the 500 million accounts using Instagram Stories,…

Shoppable ads are just one part of the social media retail zeitgeist. The future of social shopping could give buyers more power. Instead of passively feeding data into an algorithm that decides what comes up in a social media display, consumers are seeing more options to make this kind of shopping truly personal through apps from startups that focus on social capital, loyalty programs and networking.

Almost every social media platform has its own form of advertising, and not all of it is currently shoppable. However, the social shopping trend demands widespread shoppable ad functionality. Therefore, it’s imperative for e-commerce marketing leaders to become familiar with at least the heavy hitters in the shoppable ads game:

Social shopping has taken off thanks to millennials and Generation Z’s preference for using their mobile devices for everything. Mobile e-commerce is booming, and being able to shop directly through social media-based ads is no exception. Social media is the most relevant advertising channel for 50 percent of Gen Z and 42 percent of millennial…

While attending the IRCE at RetailX conference in Chicago, Total Retail's Joe Keenan sat down for an interview with Amy Vener, head of retail strategy at Pinterest. Vener discusses how Pinterest is enhancing its platform for retailers, bringing consumers through the entire purchase journey, from inspiration and ideas to research and purchase. Furthermore, Vener touches on…

In March, Instagram publicly announced a new e-commerce feature. Rather than tagging items in posts and redirecting interested parties to an online shop, “Checkout on Instagram” enables brands to sell products to users directly inside the app. The promise is that companies can minimize any extra steps in the transaction process, and therefore decrease the likelihood…