What is Social Commerce? Trends and Key Insights for 2025

In the US, social commerce retail earnings are predicted to reach nearly $80 billion in 2025. Given that 5.24 billion people currently use social media, social commerce is a no-brainer for getting your brand in front of more customers. 

But making sure your brand stands out from increasing competition—and boosting your ecommerce sales via social media—is no easy feat. You need a solid understanding of your target audience’s shopping preferences and how you can use social commerce tools to provide a top-quality customer experience.

Here, you’ll learn the latest social commerce trends, statistics, and predictions for 2025. This will help you create a successful social commerce strategy that attracts consumers and drives sales.

What is social commerce?

Social commerce is the use of social media platforms to promote and sell products or services. It lets businesses and customers interact directly, resulting in a seamless shopping experience within the user’s preferred social network. This in turn enhances customer reach, engagement, and conversion rates.

Social commerce presents consumers with a more convenient and interactive shopping experience—which may explain why it’s increasingly popular. Estimates show that sales through social networks will reach over 17% of total online sales in 2025. 

Why is social commerce important?

Social commerce is booming because social media usage is on the rise as well. Research shows that the typical internet user now spends about 2 hours and 30 minutes on social media each day. Between 2023 and 2025, US social shoppers grew from roughly 96 million to around 104 million.

People no longer use social media solely to connect with friends—it’s also become a way for brands to promote and sell products. For example, while scrolling on Instagram, you may see a set of skincare products, tap “Shop Now,” add it to your shopping cart, and check out—all within the app. 

While Gen Z leads adoption of social shopping, with 42% likely to buy holiday gifts through social media compared to the overall average of 20%, the behavior spans all age groups. Millennials aren't far behind at 26%. Even 15% of Gen X and 6% of baby boomers planned to make holiday purchases through social platforms in 2024. 

What’s the difference between social commerce and ecommerce?

Social commerce and ecommerce are not synonymous, though social commerce is a subset of ecommerce. Ecommerce includes any shopping experience that takes place online, often through a branded app or website. These sites are usually built on ecommerce platforms like Shopify. Consumers can access these sites on any internet-enabled device, including a desktop, tablet, or mobile device.

Social commerce is the use of social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram to market and sell products and services. This type of selling model lets customers complete purchases without ever leaving their social media apps.

With social commerce, brands can sell products through their social media marketing strategy. There’s no requirement to have their own ecommerce site to get set up with social media platforms’ native selling tools—but online retailers that have a website with an online store can benefit from social commerce by directing leads to their website. 

The best social commerce platforms

There are four major social platforms that currently provide native social commerce tools. As the popularity and profitability of social commerce continue to grow, more social media platforms may create their own virtual storefronts. 

1. Instagram

Instagram, owned by Meta, is a behemoth of a social commerce platform. Studies show that almost 26% of the global population over the age of 13 uses Instagram. 

From building brand awareness to providing a better online shopping experience, Instagram is a great way for brands to reach a larger audience and sell more products.

Instagram shops allow users to buy products shown in images and videos across the app. Brands with Instagram Business accounts can curate and showcase their products through a customizable virtual storefront. Each item in an Instagram Shop catalog gets its own product page, including pricing, a detailed description, and any photos or videos displaying the product. 

There are several ways brands can use Instagram Shops to sell their products. Here are some of the platform’s top features: 

• Shopping tags: These let brands tag their products in their feed posts and Instagram Stories.
• Shop tab: Here, Instagram users can browse, save, and purchase products displayed by brands or tagged by influencers.
• Ads: Businesses can place Instagram ads within the Shop tab. The ads appear with a “Sponsored” label, and let users tap through to the storefront or complete product description.
• Shop through DMs: Customers can purchase from businesses through Instagram DMs. Shoppers can ask questions, make purchases, and track their orders. 

2. Facebook

Facebook, also owned by Meta, is the platform of choice for 89% of social media marketers, who use it to drive social commerce sales. 

Facebook’s popularity is echoed among consumers: Statista reports that one-third of social commerce buyers prefer to buy through Facebook. Plus, according to an Insider Intelligence survey, some 62% of US social buyers said their most recent social purchase took place on Facebook, with features like Marketplace and Shops facilitating these transactions. 

For brands looking to venture into social commerce, it makes sense to start with a Facebook page—as with Instagram, any Facebook Business account can set up a Facebook shop, which is a completely customizable online storefront. There, brands can upload their product catalog or create one from scratch.

Visitors to a brand’s Facebook shop can view available products, including sizes, color variations, and other specifications, and potential customers can ask brands questions directly through Facebook Messenger. Once they’re ready to purchase items, shoppers can use Facebook Checkout without leaving the platform, or brands can redirect them to an online store.

Using the Shopify integration, brands can automatically sync products to Facebook and create shoppable posts and ads. This simplifies the importation process and makes it easy for merchants to bring the look and feel of their Shopify store to Facebook shops. 

Brands that are new to social commerce can set up a test shop within Facebook shops, where they can add products, manage orders, and evaluate the customer experience. 

3. TikTok

TikTok is the newer kid on the block, but its rapid growth could fool anyone into thinking it’s been a social commerce platform for ages. The video-sharing platform is predicted to hit 48.8 million US users by the end of 2025, beating Instagram’s 48.2 million, despite the latter’s six-year lead.

But TikTok users aren’t just scrolling through the app to be entertained. Some 43% of Gen Z audiences start their online product searches on TikTok—beating traditional product-discovery methods like Google or Amazon. By 2026, there will be an estimated 39.5 million TikTok buyers in the US alone. 

TikTok’s official entrance into social commerce came when they partnered with Shopify to launch in-app social shopping in 2021. Merchants with a TikTok for Business account can add shopping tabs to their brand’s profile, showcasing a virtual storefront for users to browse without the friction of exiting the app.

“Advertising with TikTok has ’hockey-sticked’ our growth,” says Tai Adaya, founder of HABIT. “Seriously, we can’t stay in stock! TikTok has allowed us to get in front of the world.”

4. Pinterest

Pinterest is a combined search engine and social media platform for images. Users create mood boards, pin places to travel, and—more importantly—discover new products. More than 465 million people use the platform every month to find ideas and research products. 

The best part? The vast majority (97%) of Pinterest searches are unbranded—meaning shoppers are open to discovering new products—and 40% of people in the US with a household income over $150,000 are on Pinterest. 

When merchants upload product listings from their online store to Pinterest, they have the ability to reach potential customers who aren’t aware of the merchant’s products but have the disposable income to splurge on products. 

Reasons to try social commerce 

For retail brands interested in using social commerce tools, there’s a large piece of the pie to claim. Other than the potential boost in ecommerce sales, using social commerce brings retail businesses plenty of other benefits, too. 

Here are the top five benefits of social commerce: 

1. Reaching a larger target audience
2. Tapping into the power of influencer marketing
3. More customer engagement and personalized experiences
4. Direct sales opportunities within platforms
5. Growing your business and acquiring new customers

1. Reaching a larger target audience

The latest figures show that over 94% of the world’s internet users now use social media. 

There’s more opportunity than ever before to reach a global audience through a social commerce strategy. Plus, increasing numbers of social media users are starting to shop through social media sites. If your target audience lies in the 18–34-year-old demographic, they’re already scrolling and ready to shop. 

2. Tapping into the power of influencer marketing

Influencer marketing works because people trust recommendations from people they follow. 

When someone you admire uses and recommends a product, you’re more likely to buy it. In fact, 74% of shoppers make buying decisions based on what influencers suggest.

Social commerce makes working with influencers even more effective. Influencers can tag your products directly in their posts, making it easy for their followers to shop. When someone taps on a tagged product in an influencer's post, they go straight to your product page without leaving the app.

This creates a smooth shopping experience that turns scrolling into sales. Brands like Lalo have seen great results, tripling their sales from influencer partnerships in just six months by using Shopify Collabs to make working with creators easier.

3. More customer engagement and personalized experiences

Social commerce makes it easier to talk with your customers and give them shopping experiences that feel special. People who shop on social media can quickly ask questions, comment, and share what they think about your products.

Social platforms also learn what people like by watching what posts they interact with. You can use this information to recommend items that customers are more likely to be interested in, because the items are similar to products they've looked at before.

For example, if someone has been looking at jackets in your social shop, you can show them matching hats or gloves. This personal touch makes shopping more fun for customers and helps your business sell more.

Brands like BÉIS and Milk Bar do this well by posting how-to videos, behind-the-scenes content, and customer stories that get people to interact with their brand. 

4. Direct sales opportunities within platforms

Social commerce lets you sell products directly where your customers already spend their time. 

Most platforms now offer features that turn browsing into buying without sending people away to another website. With built-in shopping features, customers can see a product they like and buy it right away with just a few taps.

Companies like Kylie Cosmetics and JUNO & Co. have seen great results by letting customers shop directly through social platforms. JUNO & Co. found that their sales on TikTok were 10 times higher than what they got from Instagram and Facebook, showing how powerful social selling can be when you find the best platform for your brand.

5. Growing your business and acquiring new customers

Social platforms also have search features that help people find exactly what they're looking for. When you tag your products correctly and use the right keywords, your products can show up when people search for similar products.

Many brands see incredible results with social commerce. Businesses using Shopify with Shop Campaigns have gained up to 24% more new customers, with many getting their first order within just 48 hours. In 2023, these campaigns helped brands find over one million new customers.

Selling on social media also makes reaching customers in other countries easier. WOLFpak, a backpack company, grew their global sales by 433% in just 18 months using social commerce.

By selling where billions of people spend their time daily, you open your business to growth opportunities that you can't get with just a website alone.

Social commerce industry statistics 

The social commerce industry is booming—and the future is bright. Here are a few statistics that shed a bit more light on the state of social commerce:

• 5.22 billion social media users worldwide (October 2024): Representing approximately 64% of the global population, this massive user base forms the foundation of social commerce potential.
• 94.5% of internet users use social media monthly. Almost all internet users are engaged with social platforms, making them essential touchpoints for commerce.
• The average user actively engages with 6.8 platforms monthly. Consumers are spreading their attention across multiple social channels, creating diverse opportunities for brand engagement.
• Affiliate marketing is rising in rank globally as a referring channel. Across North America, Asia-Pacific, and EMEA regions, affiliate channels consistently rank in the top positions for average order value.
• In North America, affiliate channels rank #2 for average order value. Only surpassed by direct traffic, affiliate marketing drives high-value purchases in the region.
• 76% of brands report that sponsored digital ads featuring creators are their most impactful advertising. Creator partnerships deliver better results than traditional advertising approaches.
• Shop Campaigns drive up to 24% new customer growth. These campaigns are effective tools for customer acquisition in the social commerce space.

Social commerce trends for 2025

Here’s a high-level look at where social commerce is headed this year. 

Social commerce is becoming a key aspect of unified commerce

Instead of looking at social media success separately, brands can track how customers move between social platforms, websites, and stores. This helps them understand the value of their social media efforts.

Brands now combine what they know about customers from social media with their website behavior. A unified approach gives them a better picture of each person's likes, leading to more personalized recommendations. 

Regardless of whether a sale originates on TikTok, Facebook, or a direct website visit, the order flows into a single management system. For customers, this means consistent shipping, returns, and support no matter which path they take to purchase.

When you think about it, customers don't think about "channels.” They just want convenience and consistency. Remove the walls between social commerce and other shopping options, and you’ll meet customers exactly where they are with exceptional shopping experiences. 

Brands will integrate messaging apps and chatbots with social commerce 

If you’re not already offering live chat to social commerce customers, now’s the time. Some 41% of consumers surveyed by Shopify want live chat while shopping online. 

However you interpret that 41%, one thing’s clear: shoppers are demanding easy access to the brands they’re thinking about purchasing from. Social media—a place where real-time conversations with others are actively encouraged—is the perfect facilitator. 

Live chat is one feature that helps make social commerce more sociable and interactive. Customers expect to interact with brands in the same way they chat with their friends: through social apps. 

“More and more shoppers are going online to connect and interact authentically with the brands they like,” says Jared Pobre, cofounder of Caldera + Lab. “And creating that genuine engagement will require more than liking, commenting on, and sharing your followers’ posts.

“Brands will also need to implement one-on-one social media experiences with prospects through conversations in private messages. These messages can range from offering discounts on new products or promotions to post-purchase customer support. A more personalized engagement experience will make prospective buyers and new customers feel valued and assure them that your business is there when they need you.”

The effectiveness of social media ads will rise

Social media advertising is on the rise, with spending expected to reach $345 billion by 2029. This growth is backed by tangible results—nearly half of social media users have bought products after seeing ads, with millennials even more likely to purchase at 53%.

Meta's platforms demonstrate this effectiveness, with its Q4 2024 financial results showing remarkable growth. Facebook and Instagram helped Meta achieve a 21% year-over-year revenue increase, with ad impressions up 6% year over year. 

As social platforms make shopping easier with new features and smoother payment options, we can expect social media advertising to become even more effective at turning browsers into buyers.

More video content to showcase products in action

Take a look at the laundry list of new features released by social media giants over the past few years and you’ll notice one thing they all have in common: a love for video. For retail brands, this preference for video content is good news—89% of people say they’ve been convinced to buy a product or service by watching a brand’s video. 

TikTok’s video-only platform has come to dominate the social media landscape at a record-breaking speed. Meta launched Instagram and Facebook Reels just to keep up and try to rival TikTok. Off the back of these changes, consumers are becoming increasingly reliant on video throughout the shopping journey. 

Regardless of the video format and channel you use, remember that shoppable videos are still new to some viewers. 

Make it obvious that viewers can shop products directly through a post, with captions and frequent reminders. Stick to one or two products per video and show them in action. Film with interactivity in mind, providing clickable calls to action throughout the video that direct your followers to your social storefront. This Instagram Reel by Bushbalm, for example, tags products from their Instagram shop: 

Brands can also take a social-first approach by creating behind-the-scenes livestreams, video consultations, and personalized product recommendations. 

Micro-influencers will help brands build authentic reach

While working with micro-influencers isn’t a new social commerce trend, it’s still relevant for 2025. 

For instance, Instagram influencers with fewer than 10,000 followers can charge up to $100 per sponsored post. No wonder 53% of Gen Z believe influencing is a credible career choice.

Micro-influencers also have a specific audience type, making targeting different demographics easier. To followers, these influencers are often considered more authentic than accounts with millions of followers. 

“I think authenticity is really what’s important because, today, a lot of brands pay people to wear stuff, but it looks like it’s paid for,” says Eran Elfassy, founder of Mackage. “Today I would say it’s harder, because influencers and celebrities want a lot of money to wear stuff. Sometimes it could be a spend that you’re probably not going to get a return on. So really find the authentic ones. Go with smaller influencers or smaller celebrities at the beginning, but somebody that really fosters your style and is authentic.”

Cosmetics brand Glossier has a well-established influencer program, where influencers receive product discounts or other non-monetary rewards in exchange for posting images and videos about Glossier products. The focus is on showcasing products influencers enjoy in a natural way.

Stronger integrations between ecommerce and social commerce platforms

As social commerce becomes increasingly popular, ecommerce platforms are making it easier for retailers to integrate ecommerce and social commerce into your sales experience. 

For instance, Shopify’s integration with Facebook and Instagram lets you automatically sync your Shopify product catalog to both social media platforms so you can create ads and shoppable posts. To bring the look and feel of your Shopify store to Facebook and Instagram shops, group items together to help customers discover products.

Shopify and TikTok have also partnered to bring product links to Shopify merchants, which can be used to tag products in organic TikTok posts. The TikTok community can choose to shop directly from the merchant’s storefront or click a tagged product in a merchant’s TikTok video, which will take them to the merchant’s online store for checkout.

A YouTube partnership lets merchants pin products next to videos so followers can like, subscribe, and buy. There’s also a live-shopping feature designed to help retailers livestream on the social commerce platform. 

“Shopify enabled us to migrate to a more sophisticated and stable tech stack, with apps that enable our virtual showrooms,” says Rob Bridgman, founder and CEO of furniture brand Snug. “Migrating has freed up time to focus on new channels like social commerce and live selling, so that we can pioneer in the furniture space as well as in the emerging marketing and technology space for retailers.”

Social commerce tips 

Social commerce trends are constantly evolving, but there are a few best practices that you can look into for making the most out of selling through social commerce platforms. 

1. Choose the right social commerce channel for your product

No single social media platform works best for every retailer. To find the right one for your business, look at who your customers are and pick the platform they use most.

For example, if you mainly sell to Gen Z, try TikTok's sales channels. If your customers are millennials, Instagram might work better.

Also consider the Shop network as another sales channel. It reaches over 150 million shoppers worldwide on mobile devices. People who use Shop Pay are 77% more likely to buy again from any Shopify store. The top 100 brands using the Shop app see customers coming back to buy 6.3x faster than with just a website. And 59% of orders on Shop come from repeat customers.

If you're already using social media for ads, look at which platforms get you the most likes, comments, and shares. These same platforms will likely drive more sales as well.

Don't try to be on every platform at once—you'll stretch yourself too thin. Start with the platform that works best for you, and grow from there.

2. Use your platform's livestreaming feature

Livestreaming can be a great way to showcase your product and talk about the unique selling proposition offered by your brand over competitors. For creators, a livestream can be a great way to show off your personality and build a deeper connection with your followers. 

On a livestream, viewers can tune in, see your product in action, ask questions in real time, and get all the information they need to make a purchase. On Facebook, you can even activate live shopping, which gives shoppers the option to purchase directly from your stream while they watch. 

Nearly all of China’s social platforms offer live shopping. Live shopping hasn’t caught on in the US just yet, with only 18% of people reportedly shopping via livestream. Yet as social commerce sales continue to grow, this format has greater potential to earn you sales. 

3. Use instant messaging to engage with your customers

When you sell online, customers will have questions about your products. While you can't always be on live video, you can keep messaging open to connect with them quickly.

Chat helps make online shopping feel more personal and gives customers help quickly when they need it. Connecting your chat system with your commerce system lets you see what a customer has bought while you're talking to them. This helps you give better advice and suggest products they might like.

A unified approach works two ways: customers get help that makes sense for them, and you learn more about what your customers want. When customers feel understood through these personal messages, they're more likely to complete their purchase and return later.

Through chat, you can also send customers special discounts, tell them about new products they might like, and keep in touch after they buy something. By communicating with customers this way, you make online shopping feel more human while building stronger customer relationships that lead to more sales.

4. Drive your growth by partnering with influencers

Influencer marketing has continued growing in popularity as a method of driving sales, with the industry set to balloon to $22.2 billion in 2025. Influencer audiences put a lot of value on the opinions of the influencers they follow, so an endorsement can mean a huge boost to your online sales. 

On top of that, the level of social engagement on your posts tends to increase when you work with influencers, since they often have very engaged audiences. 

All that engagement plays well algorithmically, too. When more users engage with your posts, there's a better chance of those posts being shown to new users who might be interested in your products. 

With tools like Shopify Collabs, you can discover relevant creators, manage partnerships, and track performance metrics to see which partnerships drive the most value. This makes building and scaling your influencer marketing strategy easier, without the administrative headaches.

You don’t necessarily need to work with particularly large influencers in order for influencer marketing to be advantageous. Micro-influencers tend to have higher engagement rates than large influencers, which is more valuable for building a sustained, engaged audience. 

5. Enhance ad performance with targeted audiences

Getting your social ads in front of the right people makes all the difference. When shoppers see products they actually want, they're much more likely to buy.

Shopify Audiences helps solve this problem by finding people who are ready to buy what you sell. It looks at shopping patterns across millions of Shopify stores to build lists of potential customers for your business.

Here's how Shopify Audiences helps your social commerce:

• Find your ideal customers: Create lists of people who are likely to buy your products based on their shopping behavior.
• Spend money smarter: See how your ads compare to similar stores in your industry so you know where to put your budget.
• Improve your retargeting: Reach out to people who showed interest but didn't buy yet. This can get you twice as many orders for every dollar you spend on ads.
• Cut your costs: Spend up to 50% less to acquire new customers when you use these targeted lists with platforms like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Pinterest.

For example, luxury apparel brand SIMKHAI used Shopify Audiences to reach new customer segments. The brand lowered its cost per acquisition by 54%, increased its conversion rate by 84%, and found that 89% of its new customers came through Shopify Audiences. 

According to Brooke Stein, SIMKHAI's head of digital, "Shopify's unique position allows us to find valuable new customers through Audiences which has been very effective in helping us grow the SIMKHAI brand."

Connecting with people who are already interested in products like yours will turn more of your social media scrollers into actual customers.

Stay ahead of the competition and tap into social commerce trends in 2025

These social commerce strategies and trends show that the market is only set to grow in 2025. As the number of active social media users rises, platforms will continue to release new features in an attempt to capture consumer spending. 

To stand out in an increasingly crowded social commerce setting, brands need to tap into these trends. Find the social media channels your target audience uses, then build a strategy to interact with your ideal shoppers there.