From photo sharing to product buying, social commerce is changing our buying styles.

It is a known fact that our social life has become a vital part of our day-to-day activities. Ever since we wake up and until we fall asleep, our phones are constantly alerting us about the posts and messages channeled through social media platforms.

Ever gave a thought about the applications we use to connect to people from different areas that are rapidly transforming into shopping sites? It would be an outlandish thinking approach. As of now, all these photo-sharing applications have restructured themselves to form a place to shop that is surrounded by the unstoppable wave of influencers and mega brands.

The definition of social commerce is as literal as the term itself is defined as a way to combine e-commerce and social media to aid the customers in online buying and selling of products. It is measured in the amount of interaction that the consumer makes for a brand through likes, shares, and retweets.

As a matter of fact, the market for social commerce is estimated to grow to over $3 trillion worldwide; also, the products that are purchased from the social media platforms are expected to grow from 33% as of 2021 to 38% in 2025. Communal merchandising has become an indispensable part of the brands' profits. These brands are constantly targeting social media platforms as this is the place where most of the consumers are continually opening these applications.

Amongst all the social commerce sites, Instagram is the one that all of you must be familiar with. Until the last decade, this was a place to share snapshots, whereas in the current times has turned into a fully embraced e-commerce site. This binary shopping center, alongside its one billion users, has rocketed towards the sky by using the interface of seeing it, tap it, purchase it, a method that is more practical than it sounds. Nearly 90% of U.S. marketers termed Instagram as the most crucial application to increase sales through influencer marketing and social feeds.

• Social commerce starts: -

The entire process starts on social media platforms as social commerce is a small part of the broader e-commerce system. It begins as simple browsing to some basic research and finally the billing. With craigslist and eBay as the initial starters that dealt in swapping and selling of goods, social commerce emerged. More people in Asian countries have adopted this way of buying products than compared to the American citizens as China is the leading country in social commerce due to its WeChat platform that has over 1.2 billion active users.

In America, this trend was initiated by Facebook, from which it grew its roots, and now is seen making its way into the timelines and feeds of our social media accounts.

• Path of propulsion: -

In the early 2000s, Mark Zuckerberg's Facebook empire was just a small platform where you and all your college buddies could stay connected and interact with one another. In 2007, Facebook launched its first digital market that had a craigslist user experience that helped people sell and buy items within the limits of the Facebook network. As of 2018, this small site busted its doors wide open in the name of Marketplace and endeavored on a journey in becoming a monetary venture with all sorts of advertisements.

• Creators are the key factors: -

These people who hold the position of either an athlete or a celebrity are now termed as influencers or creators that participate in collaboration for brands. This soon shifted to laymen who had a large following were the primary targets for the firms.

The firms used the consumer's trust in the influencers as a weapon to increase their sales.

• Current position of social commerce in the market: -

The rankings for each social media platform and their expected growth for the upcoming years are vital if they want to survive in the social commerce race.

• Instagram: -

Perhaps the most instinctive one out of all the social media platforms is Instagram Shopping. This binary shopping center is readily available at disposable for any person by comprising products tags, collections, and the checkout feature. The product display pages are just as interactive as one will find on an eCommerce website.

In 2018, Instagram started its shoppable posts for brands and firms, thereby raising social commerce to an entirely new level.

• Facebook: -

The Marketplace for Facebook is the most prominent anchor that is keeping Facebook in the business run. The Marketplace has over 1 billion active users, and the shops consist of over 250 million users that are engaging in a peer-to-peer digital exchange. Facebook and Instagram offer the same user experience as the owner is the same, so, unquestionably, one cannot survive without the other.

• Snapchat: -

Though the stock prices went down but the users stayed after Kylie Jenner's statement of not liking Snapchat anymore. For a long time, this application was seen as a platform with great filters and disappearing messages. Snapchat is now participating in social commerce games along with its competitors with the aid of augmented reality. Its Creators Marketplace urges its influencers to make AR content that is directed towards the product. After buying the firm Screenshop, the users will now get in touch with the sellers of the products.

• Pinterest: -

Known for its boards that display wedding fashion to furniture, this application now presents its users with Shoppable pins where consumers can pin and later on purchase those items.

With 478 million active users Pinterest will have a hard run in the social commerce race. It is a discovery resource that directs the users to the official sites for the products.

• What is in store for the future of social commerce?

One might say, online businesses strolled so social commerce could run. What will eventually demonstrate social commerce supportability as a suitable income driver for brands is the manner by which they adjust and travel through the tenacity of the always-changing crash among innovation and purchaser conduct. As we see a rise in the e-commerce section, only those brands will increase their revenue whose intellect is more in terms of understanding the social commerce market. In contrast, all the other brands will eventually run out.