How popular is social shopping?

A new survey reveals just how many consumers are making purchases via social shopping and/or influencers.

An overwhelming 98% of surveyed consumers planned to make at least one purchase through social shopping or influencer commerce in 2022, according to new data from social media management software provider Sprout Social.   

Sprout Social research also revealed relatively high levels of consumer intent to engage with a variety of leading-edge shopping technologies during 2023, including:

• 49% of consumer respondents plan on watching livestreams in 2023.
• 25% of consumer respondents plan to use voice search in 2023, a 3% increase from 2022.
• More surveyed consumers and marketers will engage with retailers through augmented/virtual reality (AR/VR) or extended reality (XR) technologies like the metaverse. 43% of consumer respondenrs agree that VR/AR/XR will play a significant role in how they engage with brands over the next 12 months, while 48% of marketer respondents anticipated using VR/AR/XR tech in 2023.

Other findings

• Close to half (47%) of surveyed consumers say they plan to use shopping features within a platform, such as Instagram Shops, Facebook Shops, or TikTok Shopping. This was most prevalent among respondents age 25-40 (65%) and least prevalent among respondents 57-75 (23%).
• More than six in 10 (63%) surveyed consumers are concerned about zero-party data (data they provide willingly) while shopping online. This includes 36% who strongly agree they are concerned and 27% who agree. Another 28% neither agree nor disagree, while only a combined 8% disagree (5%) or strongly disagree (3%).
• Over half (55%) of consumer respondents say they are okay with brands using their personal information to deliver relevant content and offers, if the recommendation aligns with their identity. This includes 26% who strongly agree they are okay and 29% who agree. Another 24% neither agree nor disagree, 12% disagree, and 9% strongly disagree.
• 77% of surveyed consumers are more likely to increase their spending with brands they feel connected to.

Millennials like social media shopping

According to a recent survey from CouponFollow, almost eight in 10 (78%) millennial consumer respondents now follow brands on social media (up from 57% in 2017). More than half (54%) admit their shopping habits are most influenced by Facebook (28%) and Instagram (27%). TikTok is the main social media platform shaping the shopping habits of 12% of all millennials and 16% of younger millennials aged 25-29.