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16/12/2021

Benefits of social e-commerce for online stores

Benefits of social e-commerce for online stores

Social e-commerce represents a new opportunity to increase sales taking advantage of the influence of social networks in the purchasing processes. More and more digital commerce is developing in a multichannel environment and the conversation in the networks is established and strengthened as a backbone in the decision making by the consumer.

This can not be ignored by the virtual stores, which have to incorporate in their commercial strategy vision improvement of the user’s purchasing process on the web, contemplating social networks as a reference.

The dynamic is simple: in social e-commerce, the sales process arises from interactions and conversations in digital environments. We find a bidirectional relationship between the brand and the user; In addition, the offer adapts to this and, above all, the consumer is not alone in the conversion funnel (online purchase process).

In contrast, in traditional e-commerce, we find that the purchase process is linear, the user is only at all times, with a unique showcase and generic offers. The latter is still the norm in online stores, but undoubtedly those that have managed to integrate the power of virtual communities in the purchasing process have taken the lead in the development of customer-centric strategies

Why bet on social e-commerce in the online store

  • Consumers listen to the opinion of friends in social networks for decision making.
  • Sharing and recommending is becoming more frequent.
  • Social networks evolve as advertising options, allowing to promote products and helping to earn a lot of qualified traffic.
  • A fan is more inclined to buy products from the pages of e-commerce that continue on social networks.
  • According to WBS; largest womens bomber jacket supplier of USA confirms that in 2018 eight out of ten users follow brands on their social networks and look for products in them. Incorporating a more social purchasing process can certainly help increase sales and get to know our customer better.

How can we make the shopping process more social in our e-commerce

First, we have to think about evaluating how social our purchasing process is today. From there we can define what steps we must follow to incorporate improvements in the communication strategy in social networks and in the e-commerce website itself. We offer below the basic recommendations that we have to contemplate to adapt both the online store and the strategy in social networks to a focus of social purchase and customer-centric.

Recommendations for the site

The improvement in the web consists of avoiding a unidirectional purchase process and favoring the conversation at all times, this can be achieved by incorporating or improving the following elements of our social e-commerce:

  • Social network buttons both in the home and in the product pages, located strategically.
  • A wish list, very useful to send offers and promotions adapted to the tastes and preferences of the user.
  • Collection of more information from users in exchange for promotions and discounts.
  • Option to send the offer to a friend.
  • Comments and ratings with stars in the product sheets.
  • Discussion forums about the product.
  • Improvement of the description of the products with the user in mind.

Let’s illustrate these tips with the Amazon website, an excellent example of social e-commerce optimization to generate conversation at all times. In each product file, we can see the consumer’s valuations and the comments about it before buying it. During the purchase process, we are accompanied by other consumers. In addition, we have the option to add favorites list, recommend and share on social networks.

For e-commerce, being on Amazon is already becoming practically an obligation to be able to grow. Here are some ways to increase your sales by investing in advertising campaigns on Amazon.

Recommendation for communication in social networks

Remember that the purchase process is multi-channel: we not only talk about making the process more social within the web, but also from social networks. For this, we have to evaluate if we are really integrating the networks in our sales strategy and:

  • Encourage interaction with the fan, make networks a loyalty channel and customer service. First of all, we must personalize communication by taking advantage of the segmentation that social networks allow us.
  • Take advantage of the social channel to launch promotions, special offers, and redeemable discount coupons during the purchase process.
  • Betting on the generation of content by the user; for example, with contests that encourage conversation, launching surveys and sharing fun, playful and original content.
  • Submit personalized offers and links to product pages.
  • Launch loyalty actions on social networks; for example, MGM shares.
  • And, above all, these tips must be adapted to each social network.

Vander Deeman, Graduated in Economics from PUC-SP and Financial Planner certified by IBCPF. He began his career as a search engine analyst at BuyDissertation and has more than 12 years of experience in operations desk, fund management, investor relations and equity allocation.