The U.S. social commerce market, valued at a staggering $89.11 billion in 2022, is on a trajectory of rapid growth.
With data showing a projected compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 29.2% between 2023 to 2030, revenues in this segment are expected to soon surpass the one trillion dollar mark.
This booming market is heavily influenced by the rise of influencer and creator marketing, a key driver of social commerce growth.
Research shows influencer campaigns boast an average engagement rate of 4.2%, significantly higher than the 0.9% seen in campaigns without influencers. Additionally, 60% of consumers report trusting recommendations from influencers when making purchasing decisions.
Despite these promising statistics, the social shopping experience is often hindered by friction within the purchasing process. Most existing solutions require multiple steps between product discovery and checkout.
Given shoppers’ increasingly short attention spans, which now average about eight seconds, these lengthy processes often lead to high cart abandonment rates.
The Baymard Institute reports an average online shopping cart abandonment rate of 70.19%, with over 18% of abandonments due to complicated checkout processes.
Paul do Forno, Managing Director at Deloitte Digital’s Customer Experience and Commerce arm, agreed that not having a fast, easy-to-use checkout connected with this shopping experience is a major hurdle for buyers.
“There needs to be an easy or integrated payment mechanism that allows for a quick conversion, especially within social buying, where every second counts. But if it’s too hard to fill in a form or find a payment button, it’s detrimental to conversions,” he said.
One company addressing these specific pain points is Trnd, a social commerce platform designed to streamline the social shopping experience by enabling brands to provide influencers with curated storefronts with a frictionless one-click checkout across every social channel.
Trnd leverages the power of social proof and consumers’ emotional connections with influencers, allowing them to buy directly from influencers they trust rather than via faceless middle-man platforms or newly acquainted brands.
Noticing that data beyond awareness metrics was a major gap for both influencers and creators engaging in campaigns, this tool comes with in-depth analytics, not just around likes and comments, but also about the business impact of influencer campaigns.
These include comprehensive marketing funnel data and analytics on the back end, providing detailed campaign reporting from a high-level overview to granular details.
This data allows brands and creators to see which audiences and products resonate best, facilitating better resource allocation and improved ROI on gifting programs and customer acquisition costs.
The approach fosters longer-term, more sustainable partnerships between brands and influencers, moving beyond one-off campaigns to cultivate brand evangelists who consistently promote products across multiple campaigns.
One brand using Trnd is Pushup Chalk, a tube-based chalk product for athletic purposes. The brand’s founder and CEO Anthony Whalen said that getting started on Trnd was simple and straightforward, even as a newcomer to the ecommerce space.
“The setup process was intuitive, and my creators could be onboarded, start creating, and get compensated all in one place,” Whalen said.
He also expressed satisfaction with Trnd’s discounting logic, which eliminates the need for unique codes, thus further reducing friction in the conversion rate flow and eliminating the risk of codes being compromised.
Looking ahead, Trnd plans to expand its community of brand partners and influencers via referral programs, thus scaling the curated storefront experience across various brands and categories.
Their long-term goal is to further eliminate the confusion of one-off links and codes, simplifying consumers’ social commerce shopping experience.
The future of social commerce in the U.S. includes significant growth opportunities reminiscent of the market’s success in Asia. As Trnd continues to innovate and address the barriers to conversion optimization, the platform is making strides to improve the ever-evolving landscape of social commerce.
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