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The New Kid in the Block
As we toughen through the days of the pandemic, the lines between our everyday lives and digital engagement is increasingly becoming blurred. No, it's not social media but social shopping is the latest pandemic trend to catch fire.

Social media and our offline social networks continue to offer us opportunities to connect with new and interesting products, brands and offers. Social commerce is not a new concept, it’s been getting all the millennial eyeballs for years, with people shopping together and contributing to each other’s buying decisions. However, it has taken a new meaning with more and more people seeking online social validation for purchases from their homes combining discovery, engagement, conversations, shopping – all in one simple and seamless platform journey online. While we are on staycations and home quarantines, the retail sector is going through a transformational churn, with brands and small businesses accelerating their online commerce to model the offline experiences for consumers with models like 1-on-1 assisted sales and human interaction online. Social commerce is only the tip of the iceberg towards a revolution that is paving the way to a new-age digital commerce ecosystem encompassing integral offline shopping elements thereby facilitating any non-tech user to confidently transact online.

The Market Numbers
This fast evolving market has the majority of its transactions from current social media platforms; according to Business Insider, the US alone is expected to have around $23 billion in social commerce sales by the end of 2020, constituting over 40 percent of current social media users. In India, the tectonic ‘Jio Revolution’ has brought millions of first-time online users who regard WhatsApp, Facebook & Youtube as their primary sources of latest news and products online. This is in conjunction with more than 90 percent of small businesses in India leapfrogging digital web and e-commerce to these ‘social-first’ and ‘mobile-friendly’ channels and connecting with their consumers, along with the rise of mobile-light e-commerce technologies like Progressive Web Apps that are allowing consumers to access platforms without having to download mobile apps.

‘I love these glittery leggings - where did you get them?’ could be a possible social media comment or simply an inbox message that can end up with a purchase when the consumer directs the social user to the product page or a Buy Now button. Such a commerce event in a social setting where the consumer is the promoter, channel and buyer is being referred to as Consumer-to-Consumer-to-Brand (C2C2B) that imparts two way engagement in contrast to the one-way channel in traditional B2C e-Commerce.

It therefore comes as no surprise that this market currently stands at a projected $70 billion (source: Nielsen) opportunity in India, with WhatsApp being the top social platform with over 93 percent of Indian small businesses selling on it.

Communities and Influencer Social
The real fascinating part is how existing social networks are being used in innovative ways than their core functionalities, by service SMEs and micro influencers to tap into cheap customer acquisition channels. With the advent of ‘work-from-home’ entrepreneur platforms, community-centric groups have unleashed a whole world of possibilities for SMEs to directly engage with their consumers and acquire referrals with virtually zero-cost, unlike the much-hyped paid channels like search ads and digital marketing. From discovering products to services, jobs, events, the platforms are already mimicking those busy streets of flea markets across the country that sell everything from phone covers, lehengas to table clothes and much more.

Social commerce is only the tip of the iceberg towards a revolution that is paving the way to a new-age digital commerce ecosystem encompassing integral offline shopping elements thereby facilitating any non-tech user to confidently transact online

Similarly, gone are those days of catchy jingles and celebrity-endorsed commercials capturing the TV-obsessed consumers for a brand. The new-age Indian internet users have upsurged their loyalty towards more UGC-centric online entertainment channels like YouTube, Instagram Reels, and garnering increasing momentum in homegrown video content platforms like Roposo that are growth powerhouses of micro-influencers with millions of die-hard following. Cooped up at home, consumers’ increasing reliance on social content creators for brand and product discovery is another enabler for socially-led influencer commerce.

The Future: Social 2.0
This is no doubt a paradigm shift in digital commerce with social being the new kid in the block, albeit with two paradoxical forces at play - the consumer’s ever-lasting desire to find what they want vs the consumer’s desire to find what their friend’s want. Social 2.0 is a fluid commerce ecosystem of social sellers and consumers with multiple mediums at play such as video, referrals, or 1-on-1 assistance. Coupled with a growing pandemic outside, India’s inevitable social commerce market is gaining steam at an accelerated pace - poised to coincide with some significant technological boosts in the coming years.