Social Commerce was the fastest growing segment of India’s online retail industry in 2019. Factors such as increasing use of smartphones, reduced internet costs, advancement in payment gateway, growth in the number of social media users, etc which has led to a rapid rise of social commerce in India.
So, what is Social Commerce exactly?
Social Commerce is the use of networking websites such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter as vehicles to promote and sell products & services. In simple terms, social commerce is a conglomeration of social networking and online shopping, both which has become quite popular and the favorite activity of many. It sounds interesting as it makes online shopping a five finger exercise, doesn’t it?
But not to confuse it with social media marketing because social commerce is only concerned with directing customers to the online shopping site. It can also be easily confused with Ecommerce. Although, Social Commerce is similar to Ecommerce but not the same. Social commerce is about buying and selling on social networking websites while Ecommerce is the sales you make on your website.
In case you’re wondering if Social commerce can do anything for your business then yes, it can do wonders as it offers many benefits to your brand from increasing sales to driving traffic, from increasing customer engagement to their loyalty and even customer retention.
If the next thing you’re wondering is what would be the next step for developing a Social commerce App, then you’ve come to the right place.
There are certain points that should be considered while developing a Social commerce App for your business which are explained as follows:
Let’s be honest, the tedious registration demanded online is irritating for all of us. Sometimes it makes the customer exit the online shopping portal leaving it halfway. Therefore, eliminating the registration process that might bug the shoppers and enabling them to log in within seconds using their email ID’s/phone numbers makes them retain their interest in your Social commerce App.
Social networking sites contain a whole world of products and services out there. One can easily get lost in it. The product or service that you are trying to offer can also easily get lost or go unnoticed. Therefore, adding filters helps your customers to look for exactly what they need as it makes it simple for them. Getting into complications of searching can get on their nerves. Hence, adding filters comes to the rescue.
People are likely to window shop in their free time and can possibly even make a purchase in the future. For such users, adding a wishlist feature enables them to save the product they’re interested in without missing or forgetting about it.
Customers are sick of the long process of checking out after making the purchase same as how they’re sick of the long registration process. By providing a quick checkout option to your customers, it drives them to your portal frequently which obviously increases the sales conversion rate.
Your large number of customers may prefer different methods of making the payments than one another. Keeping your payment options limited may keep your customers away from shopping at your site. Therefore, Multiple Payment Options such as credit/debit cards, Net Banking, UPI, COD,etc makes it easy for your customers to shop by making the payment according to their convenient choice.
So, some customers other than the ones discussed in the previous point, may like to have an option of making their payments through E-wallet, which is basically readily and easily available in the app. This eliminates the interference of any third party to make payments. Hence, making it quick plus easy.
Your customers must enjoy the post shopping experience. For example, after making the purchase they must be provided with the information of their order location, delivery time, delivery date, etc. They must also be given regular updates about their orders.
Users who have made purchases from your portal can pour down their thoughts and suggestions about the product or service of your app through ratings or writing down reviews. This helps in building the trust of the potential customers and also helps them make purchases.
In the world of social media where there is a flood of various products and services provided by an immense number of people, it gets confusing and hence hard to trust a particular product or service with your purchases. Influencers who are trusted by many and those who influence social media, help you gain trust. They also help you to reach a wide number of people by promoting it on their social media platform.
Writing down about the products and services offered by you helps in growing the user base. Currently, people seem to enjoy reading quite a bit and hence putting up articles and blogs will help you strengthen your Social commerce app.
