Two elements have become in the last decade key pieces of everyday life and elements that all generations use. There is no longer a demographic barrier, because they have become universal.
This is the case with electronic commerce – whose importance has grown during the months of the pandemic, when consumers had to trust it to be able to access the things they wanted – and with social networks. Regarding the latter, criticism matters little and fashions also matter little.
There they are still. Therefore, it seems almost inevitable that one and the other end up crossing. Social media and e-commerce seem doomed to go hand in hand. Although s-commerce, electronic commerce directly on social networks, still has a lot to grow and a lot to develop, the market is already seeing a high impact of social networks on online purchases. In a way, this seems almost commonplace.
Social networks have an unquestionable impact on our consumption patterns, as shown from the power of influencers to the products that become fashionable after going viral on any of these platforms. However, what the latest study on the matter provides is concrete data, exact figures for immediate conversion. That is, how much direct traffic are social networks generating for online stores.
Increasingly important as a source of traffic
Global statistical data of the Salesforce Shopping Index and as a point in WARC allows us to conclude that social networks are becoming an increasingly important source of buyers for online merchants. The percentage weight in the visits achieved is increasing and that in the accounts cannot be added the role of social networks that are hidden in dark social patterns .
In the second quarter of 2021, almost a tenth of buyers came from social networks (exactly 8.9%). In 2019, they were 6.6%. According to Warc, growth has been sustained over the last two years. Social networks have remained like this with a clear growth rate.
In the mobile universe, the numbers are better
In addition, the data is higher both in traffic from smartphones and tablets, something especially interesting because mobile devices are the increasingly decisive space in web traffic. Every time we browse more from our mobiles and every time we use them much more for more things. They are our space for entertainment, communication or shopping.
There, social networks are already 16% of the referral traffic on tablets and 11.6% of that on mobiles. If online browsing patterns continue in the direction they are going – and everything seems to indicate that this is what will happen – the weight of social networks as sources of traffic for e-commerce will continue to grow. Marketers must therefore keep it in mind and work in this direction.
