In this final installment of our series on the trends affecting the future of online shopping, we’ll look at how social, entertainment, and content creation are combining with E-commerce to create interesting product discovery and shoppertainment experiences.

Modern consumers have less time to go through rows of products or interpret traditional advertising. Brands that can meet today’s consumer expectations of being both engaged and inspired are experiencing the highest returns. Creating exclusive and exciting online moments that cannot be obtained elsewhere elicits a strong emotional response from us and can eventually strengthen the relationship between a consumer and a business. The ongoing shift in how we consume media and spend time online is combining with newer methods of online transactions such as social commerce buttons, mobile payments, and peer-to-peer transfers to create shopping experiences that can quickly lead users through stages such as shared product exploration and influencer endorsements to a purchase phase without requiring them to leave their preferred social platform.

This combination of entertainment, social influence, and product curation has been gaining traction for some time, and innovative platforms like NTWRK are attempting to blend entertainment and social commerce by providing their audience with unprecedented access to exclusive products and content from major sports stars, musicians, actors, influencers, and designers. The approach they use revolves around weekly episodic product drops that can only be viewed live on a mobile phone. It provides a live buying window of 15-20 minutes, after which it is gone permanently. This creates a sense of urgency surrounding specific products and quickly bakes in exclusivity. Brands see this type of platform as an opportunity to leverage collaborations with personalities to produce exclusive capsule collections and one-of-a-kind product releases, with the help of their partner media businesses to package and convey the story of those collaborations. The combination of storytelling and purchasing ability in a live-streaming video setting is an effective form of social commerce.

Superdrug, a UK high street business, has also taken a forward-thinking approach to digital interaction, using elements of Retailtainment to create more memorable purchase experiences via Superdrug TV. They have been quick to recognise that by providing their customers with an entertaining and informative online show they can increase the time on site and the average transaction size, strengthen customer loyalty and retention in the long term and make the company more viable and relevant to consumers who are looking for ways to spend their time online. There is no doubt that the approach of Superdrug takes considerable courage, time and budget but it really enables the brand to use their expertise, highlight key products and position themselves as an authority in the healthcare and beauty sectors.

These socially infused commerce ideas that are shaping how western merchants interact customers online may be traced back to innovations made in China many years ago.

In 2020, social commerce accounted for more than 11.6% of total retail e-commerce sales in China, amounting to a staggering 242 billion dollars in sales income. However, this was not an instant success; for more than a decade, finding ways to unlock potential revenue streams for shops on social media has been at the forefront of key changes to Chinese social networks. WeChat, for example, now includes whole shopping eco-systems with integrated lightweight sub-apps, which brands such as Sephora, Nike, Gucci, and Armani frequently use to increase market share and sell to large audiences. Aside from the speed and convenience of market provided by social integrations, it is worth noting that as the cost of recruiting new customers online continues to climb, marketers perceive social commerce as a more cost-effective approach to reach new customers.

Another common technique among China’s social media power players is to employ Live Commerce and AMA (Ask Me Anything) experiences. Through a live conversation with popular hosts, creators or influencers, customers can hear the story of how items were planned and manufactured or probe deeper on product suitability by asking probing questions about the product and viewing live demos. Live shopping streams are a relatively new method to eCommerce, although this iteration is only a continuation of a trend that began in the late 1970s and early 1980s with major American shopping channels. Channels such as QVC focus in selling home products, fashion, and beauty and continue to be quite successful in particular shopping regions.

In 2021, it looks like every major social platform is shifting towards a strategy centred on social relationships and commerce, with Tik Tok most recently announcing ambitions to directly connect creators with additional monetisation opportunities. Similarly, Pinterest has worked hard to innovate in this area in recent years, effectively experimenting with new ways to generate buying opportunities directly from the platform. They say that 83% of Pinterest users have bought a product after seeing anything from a company on the network. Learn more about how Pinterest approaches social selling and check out their intriguing roll-out of in-built AR capabilities – buying eyeshadow will never be the same again!

There is no doubt that there is huge potential in the areas of retailtainment, live commerce and social commerce, and on the fringes of this new trends like shopping with friends and virtual shopping mates are also beginning to peak brands interest. In a world still mainly operating under some sort of lockdown, these fully digitised shopping experiences seem to most closely resemble in-person shopping and the added extras like celebrity endorsements or social validation only further strengthen the possibilities.

Our view at Clarity is that this approach to online shopping is one that is only going to strengthen in the years to come, so watch this (online retail) space! If you have any questions or need assistance, please contact us today.