Experts predict the value of social commerce is set to explode but inevitably it will be the millennial generation who will ignite the explosion.
Millennials are a generation that cannot be ignored since it is estimated that this market will have a combined purchasing power of $2.45 trillion worldwide by 2015, $30 billion of which will be in the US.
A new study from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth suggests that buy buttons on social networks will be particularly powerful. Both Twitter and Facebook announced plans to add such functionality to their sites earlier this year but, apart from small scale testing, have yet to announce when they will go live. But the survey showed that among millennials at least adoption could be high.
Facebook buy button
The study, which surveyed 405 millennials (ie those born between 1980 and 2000) in the autumn of this year, showed that more than a third (35%) are likely to use a buy button on Facebook and a quarter (24%) to use one on Twitter.
The figures prove that even before its proper launch the prospect of social commerce in the truest sense offers big potential especially since there are some 76 million millennials globally.
But the survey also showed that it is Pinterest as a social media platform that offers the greatest opportunity for online sales conversion with 51% of Pinterest users making purchases online exclusively compared to 16% of Facebook users and 35% of Twitter users. The study’s authors put this down to the highly visual design of the site making it easier to search for alternative products.
Generation Y
The survey also proved that traditional push marketing does not work so well with Generation Y since they are used to consuming information when and how they want it rather than having their mediums being dictated to them.
Their use of social media channels and their interaction with companies and brands online is changing. Millennials are increasingly getting bored with Facebook it seems since although 55% of respondents liked at least one brand on the channel was down on last year’s measure.
Conversely, numbers for rival platforms Twitter and Pinterest rose to 29% and 16% respectively and Instagram is also emerging as an alternative with the study’s authors pointing out that the emergence of ads on that channel will also mean the buying trends on the platform are worth monitoring.
Motivations for liking a brand or company varied but the ability to get coupons or discounts or receive regular updates from brands was high for all the channels, meaning this is a market open to being communicated to via social media.
It is also a market that desires something for their efforts with companies offering coupons or discounts in exchange for a like/follow/pin more likely to see an increase in sales and similar increases likely to be seen from exclusive offers, free products, and more directed advertising.
Social commerce is set to have a huge impact. Those that ignore the power of the millennials do so at their peril.
