How to Make Social Commerce More Appealing
Just 5% of US adult internet users have made a purchase via social
September 26, 2014
Social commerce isn’t new, and Twitter’s recent announcement of an in-tweet “buy” button is yet another effort to fuel customer purchases via social. But how many digital buyers in the US actually take the final leap on a social platform? Not too many, according to August 2014 polling by Harris Poll for DigitasLBi, which found that just 5% of US adult internet users had made a purchase on a social network such as Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest.

Based on the research, better security measures could motivate social networkers to buy through a social platform. Fully 42% of users said they would be more likely to make a purchase via social if they knew their credit information was secure, while 38% said knowing their purchase wouldn’t be shared would increase their likelihood of completing such a transaction.
One-third of respondents would be more apt to make a purchase if the total was under $25, and further responses indicated that cost definitely had an influence in whether or not users clicked the social buy button. The majority said that price played a big role in their decision to buy something on a social site, and 35% would even use a social hashtag if it meant getting a discount.

And despite many showing a desire for security around social purchases, about one-quarter of respondents said they wouldn’t hold back from buying via social even if that meant a brand would know their purchase history.
eMarketer expects the number of US social network users to rise by 4.5% this year and hit 173.2 million people. This represents 68.5% of internet users and 54.3% of the population—as well as a big audience for retailers trying to up social commerce.
Go beyond the articles
Corporate subscribers get quick and easy access to the exact data and analysis they need to make critical business decisions: