The Power of Social Commerce

Whenever we think of buying products online, immediately most people think of buying through a website. And why wouldn’t they? That's been the norm since the invention of the internet, so why should we be thinking any differently now?

Websites serve a clear purpose. They’re the online identity for businesses, accessible by anyone in the world, and it's the opportunity for businesses to tell you all about who they are and why their services matter, but social media is also becoming a primary means of discovery for businesses.

When we compare websites and social media in terms of the value they provide to consumers, we see a couple of key overlapping items.

In short, websites and social media both provide relevant brand and product information to consumers to assist them in making an informed decision on their purchases, but only websites typically provide the final step – facilitating the purchase for the consumer.

If social platforms could also facilitate ecommerce transactions, what could that mean for online sellers?

Think about the following benefits;

No technical experience or steep learning curve required
The requirement for technical ability to host a website and faciliate sales is no longer a concern. Users will be able to use their existing social media pages to promote their products and faciliate purchases for their customers.

No website required
Businesses would no longer have to worry about the creation and maintenance of their website, saving time and money. When a business has a website, they have to concern themselves with the right content and the right branding.

Quicker validation
When a business first starts, they want to validate the demand for their product or services as quickly as possible. As they don’t have to worry about creating a website, they can immediately focus on building their brand awareness through social media and selling through social media as a primary online sales channel to validate their offering before any large financial outlays.

Duplication of content
For businesses that manage social media pages and websites, there is typically a bunch of duplicated content. When a website is no longer required, that removes the duplication of content and saves time.

Reach new customers
64% of consumers now discover products via social media. Selling through social media provides the opportunity to reach a new type of customer and more importantly, you can reach them on their terms. No longer do businesses have to pile money into SEO optimisation and paid-search in order to attract customers. Through social, you have access to a much more refined customer audience, based on demographics, that also costs much less to run ads than search.

If social media pages could be turned into social media stores, the opportunities for businesses are countless. Admittedly, this is a single channel from a multi-channel world that we now find ourselves in, though the sheer growth and currently size of this channel is enough for businesses to thrive and at the very least, validate the demand for their business in the early days.

At Sugarcoat, we believe that online sellers should have the ability to sell their products and services as easy as possible, direct to consumers, without any of the distractions that come with creating and maintaining a website or working with a marketplace. Social media represents the best opportunity to build a brand and have it backed by the best form of business generation: other people.

If you’d like to find out more about how you can sell through social media for free, get in touch.