Americans don’t buy into video shopping

In recent years, many cross-border sellers have been actively deploying various social media platforms, hoping to establish their own brand image through this method and expand their sales channels.

On the other hand, platforms such as TikTok and Instagram have also seen a surge in online shopping. On TikTok, videos sharing various good things emerge in an endless stream, and the cumulative number of views of related videos has exceeded 58.5 billion times as of June this year.

However, a recent study by PYMNTS seems to have poured cold water on sellers. According to the agency's research, after interviewing a large number of American consumers, they found that only 43% of consumers would look for products through social media. In addition, only 14% of consumers finally placed an order on a social media platform.

The report also specifically analyzes the characteristics of different social media platforms. For example, users on Instagram like to show off their fashion sense, so clothing products sell better. 47% of the respondents have bought clothes on Instagram in the past month.

As a short video platform, TikTok can well demonstrate the usage process and effects of cosmetics. Therefore, beauty products have always been one of the best-selling categories on TikTok.

Some experts pointed out that social media e-commerce needs to stimulate consumers' impulse shopping desire. To this end, the platform needs to provide one-stop browsing, ordering and payment services. If the process is too cumbersome or requires jumps, the conversion rate will be greatly reduced.

One of the great attractions of e-commerce on social media is that when users stumble upon a product they're interested in, they can place an order immediately, saving them the time of going to shopping sites again.

Nearly 30% of the respondents said that as long as the product is interesting and ordering is not troublesome, they would consider buying one for fun, after all, the products sold on social media platforms are not expensive. This shows that a smooth ordering process is very important for social media platforms.

However, the biggest problem facing social e-commerce is the lack of trust from consumers. Data shows that 37% of consumers who have not placed orders on social media said they are afraid that their personal information will be leaked, and 31% question whether the sellers on social media platforms are legitimate businesses.

For retailers and merchants, although social media is a good channel, how to cultivate consumers' shopping habits and gain their trust is a problem that sellers need to solve.

USA

Social Media

E-commerce