63 percent of online shoppers are encouraged to interact via social media
The number of consumers who use voice-activated devices such as Amazon Echo and Google Home to search for products has risen by 83 percent compared to last year, according to Episerver’s «Reimagining Commerce» benchmark report. At the same time, social media has established itself as a channel in the consumer purchasing process. Two-thirds of online shoppers (63 percent) have clicked on social media ads. Of those, 33 percent went on to make a purchase immediately afterward.
The annual "Reimagining Commerce" study, for which more than 4,500 online shoppers in eight countries were surveyed, shows that consumers are searching and shopping more frequently via voice, but security concerns prevail. Although 17% of online shoppers make purchases by voice command several times a month (compared to 11% in 2017), this still contrasts with 43% of consumers who cite a lack of security requirements as the main reason why they will not make purchases via voice-based devices this year. This is followed by a lack of product images (35%) and problems comparing products (33%).
"Where voice still has weaknesses, social commerce is catching up," says Marc Bohnes, Product Strategy Director at Episerver. "Our survey shows that social media leads to purchases and has a strong influence on young consumers. They have evolved from networks that were early adopters of simple buy-now buttons to a native part of daily life where scrolling quickly turns into shopping. Retailers looking to prioritize their activities this year should analyze what is currently working and what is helping to drive awareness and ultimately purchases."
In a new question in the study, Episerver found that over half of online shoppers (52%) who use social media have also clicked on influencer posts. And a third of these customers (31 percent) have ordered directly from such a post. In addition, a similar number of customers use social media as a source of inspiration (12%) when they do not yet have a specific product in mind when shopping. By comparison, only 11 percent of customers go to a company website for this purpose.
The complete study is available here can be downloaded free of charge by providing contact details. The study is based on a survey of customers in Germany, the USA, the United Kingdom, Sweden, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Australia. The 4,500 respondents were at least 18 years old and had made at least one digital purchase in the past twelve months.
