And online blurs
Elizma Nolte is Regional Marketing Manager for Facebook in Africa. In this series of articles, she discusses online shopping trends on social media.
Last week we talked about how Covidinduced lockdown has accelerated the growth in eCommerce, which has in turn led to the accentuated trend of Discovery Commerce. Shopping used to be equivalent to an outing to the mall, but these days people are no longer just “going shopping”; rather they are “always shopping”. Online and on social, we discover products serendipitously, moving from see to click to buy in a few seconds. As the busiest shopping period of the year approaches, advertisers will be thinking about how to stand out on this social media shelf and how to drive discovery of their products. Facebook worked with YouGov to commission research across 32 markets, including South Africa and found that 73% of online shoppers are interested in new and different ways of shopping. Remember going to the mall? It’s not just about the practicality. It’s as much about the human interaction, the bright displays, the lunch interlude and the rummaging through sales racks, as it is about walking out with the perfect purchase. So how do we recreate that experience online?
First of all, consumers tell us that they want to interact with brands. 82% of consumers say social media has heightened their expectations around brand interaction. They want to see businesses participate in the communities they follow, and they want to be able to talk to their favourite brands directly. Over the past year, total daily conversations between people and businesses on Messenger and Instagram grew by more than 40% globally; and 60% of shoppers in SA say they are more likely to consider purchasing from a business they can message.
shopping experience is through augmented reality (AR). 72% consider AR as a fun way to interact with brands, whether to visualise a new couch in their living room, or to try on different colours of lipstick virtually.
There is also a big rise in Live Shopping. From low-cost home set-ups to large
Live Shopping offers shoppers a mix of behind the scenes glimpses and real-time sales. We call it shopatainment.
Brands need to reimagine online interaction as shoppers increasingly embrace e-commerce and social commerce, by offering interactive, fun and seamless digital