Over the past two years, online shopping has grown exponentially. In fact, Statista predicts that 22% of total global retail sales will be e-commerce by 2024. As consumer shopping habits shift online, they’re beginning to gravitate towards brands that engage with their audiences through online experiences.
It’s crucial that marketers shift their strategies to reach the consumers where they are—connecting content with online shoppability. In 2022, successful marketers should be looking for ways to engage consumers through social commerce, live commerce, and influencer content.
Social Commerce
Social is now more than a discovery point. Social commerce, the direct purchasing of products and services on a social platform, grew by 30% in 2020 to 80 million social buyers and is expected to hit an outstanding 96 million in 2022. In response, social platforms will continue to develop ways for brands to create in-app shopping experiences.
Livestream Commerce
Throughout 2021, leading social networks introduced live streaming commerce to their platforms. “Live Shopping Fridays” on Facebook, Live Rooms on Instagram, and both Pinterest and TikTok testing livestreaming events on their platforms; all of these stem from the popularity of livestream commerce in China and indicate that it is a trend that will continue to grow.
In fact, eMarketer predicts that by 2023, 61% of social commerce dollars in China will come from livestream shopping, totaling $281.21 billion. While the US is still in the early stages with livestream commerce, interest is on the rise for both brands and consumers, and it’s in a position to be a driving force for shoppable marketing.
Influencer Commerce
Influencer marketing has been a commonly used strategy for several years now, but with the expansion of shoppable technology, their role in marketing campaigns is quickly moving from discovery to conversion.
Amongst millennial and Gen Z audiences, influencers have a stronger sway—being viewed as more authentic. In fact, a survey conducted by eMarketer found that nearly half of adults, aged 18 to 24, said they would turn to social media to not only discover new products but purchase them as well.
Between shoppable videos and shoppable posts, influencer marketing is able to drive seamless user experiences, helping further bridge content and commerce.
KERV Interactive is creating the most precise and unique interactive content opportunities for both brands and audiences. Through patented AI and machine learning, KERV empowers brands to create unique, immersive experiences across platforms—including social—helping them drive deeper awareness and engagement with their audiences.
Learn more about how KERV is bridging the gap between content and commerce today.