Social commerce has rapidly grown from a revolutionary idea to a mainstream concept, and the channel is expected to continue expanding to reach it 1.2 trillion dollars in sales by 2025. However, it is still a young broker, which means that retailers are still learning how they can make the most of the opportunities it presents. GeneHome décor and fashion retailer DTC demonstrated how its unique approach to direct shopping and social commerce generated massive returns at the 2022 Retail Innovation Conference and Exhibition.
The key lesson is that while social commerce can be an outgrowth of traditional retailer social media interactions, it is more time-sensitive and time-consuming. Retailers need to have a dedicated team that can assemble the right content and release it at the right speed, if they hope to truly generate a return on investment.
Meagen Johnson, Jane’s senior vice president of marketing, said during the session. “Previously it was just about putting on some great pictures. “Oh, that’s a nice jacket.” “Hey, find it on our site.” Now we’re actually trying to get people to make this conversion. “
In addition to creating content, the technical side could not be less than perfect. Social commerce is a channel built on convenience, and any friction in the transaction can be enough to kill both a specific purchase and ongoing engagement. Additionally, any links that bring a shopper to your site should include a clear path to purchase that makes the checkout as smooth as possible.
The rewards can be well worth the challenges. Social commerce has become Jane’s fastest growing channel, and highlights of 2021 include:
- Purchases up 81% Year after year
- GMV up 86% Year after year
- Conversion rates up 10% On an annual basis in December;
- Live GMV shopping up 95% year after year and
- average reach more than 2 million Viewers per live shopping video, higher than 40000 in the year 2020.
While there is no single path to the success of social commerce, according to Johnson, she offered what she saw as the closest thing to a universal rule among social commerce programs: consistency. Shoppers need to be able to connect with brands regularly to build trust and loyalty through small events and dips. Only then will you earn the following necessary to run a truly massive social commerce campaign.
“You can’t go to your client at some point and say ‘Hey, check this out here’ and then leave whatever platform you’re working on for a few months before going ‘Just kidding, come back and try again’Johnson said. “Every day, every week, we’ve scheduled and promoted these live events so consumers can check out some of our vendors and some of the products we offer on a consistent basis.”
In addition, a social commerce strategy must remain flexible even once established, and retailers must monitor responses to all of their posts to look for new opportunities. This approach led to Jane’s unique and powerful sales drive: selling clothing through posts that focus on household goods.
“We’ve noticed that if you follow a home influencer and they say, ‘Hey, here’s how I set my table for Christmas’ you can read the comments and a lot of those say, ‘Oh my God, where did you get these earrings?’ Johnson said. “They don’t want anything to do with the table and that’s why it’s posted. There are a lot of these home influencers who are promoting something completely different. Asking their audience what they’re wearing and what they’re doing.”
Jane capitalized on this discovery by giving influencers fashion items at home, with impressive results. Influencers at home ended up driving 6% higher return on advertising expenditures, 78% Higher CTR and 280% More sessions from fashion influencers. in one week, two Influencers at home are responsible for 92% of transfers, 80% of sessions and 84% GMV against 19 Other fashion influences.
Retailers should also look for ways to use the influencer’s content outside of social media. Jane believes that her influencer partners are content creators, and she collaborates with them to leverage their images and posts in emails and on her website to harness their creativity – and generate more sales.
“The moral of the story is, sometimes [too] Johnson said. “There are different categories and different industries, and it’s easier to work with what we know. But research the things you do and find creators, influencers, ambassadors who have those niche spaces, or even get creative about how you partner with them. You can get untapped revenue that you didn’t know you didn’t get before. “
