Growth is expected to be driven by the social media of generation Z and millennials

A new Accenture study reveals that the World Social Trade sector, located today in 492.000 million dollars, grow three times faster than traditional electronic commerce, until reaching 1.2 billion dollars in 2025.This growth is expected to be promoted by users of the social networks of the Z generation and the Millennials generation, which will represent 62% of the global spending in Social Commerce by 2025.According to Accenture Why Shopping's Set for Social Revolution (why purchases are prepared for a social revolution), social trade means that all the experience of purchase of a person -from the discovery of the product to the purchase process -It takes place on a social media platform.Somewhat less than two thirds (64%) of the users of the social networks surveyed claimed to have made a purchase through social trade in the last year, which, according to Accenture estimates, is almost 2.000 million social buyers worldwide.

"Pandemia showed how much people use social networks as a starting point for everything that does online: news, entertainment and communication," according to Robin Murdoch, global leader of the Software Industry and Accenture Platforms."The constant increase in time dedicated to social networks reflects how essential these platforms are in our daily lives.They are remodeling the way people buy and sell, which provides platforms and brands for new opportunities for user experiences and income sources."

The Accenture Report "Why Shopping's Set for Social Revolution" estimates that social trade will represent 17% of all expenditure on electronic commerce in 2025

Although this paradigm is important for large companies, individuals and small brands can also benefit.More than half (59 %) of the social buyers surveyed said that they are more likely to support SMEs through social trade that when they buy on the websites.

"Social trade is a tool promoted by the creativity, ingenuity and power of people.It can be able to the smallest and people brands, and makes the big brands reassess their relevance for a market of millions of individuals, "says Oliver Wright, a global leader of Accenture Consumer Goods and Services."Getting adequate social trade will require that creators, resellers and brands carry their products and services where the consumer is and will be, not vice versa.It means working together within a dynamic ecosystem of platforms, markets, social media and influencers to share data, knowledge and abilities that end in a better consumer experience ".

Half of the users of the social networks surveyed, however, indicate that they are concerned that the purchases of social trade are not protected or not properly reimburse, which makes confidence the greatest barrier to their adoption, as well asIt was for electronic commerce in its beginnings.

"Those who have not yet used social trade indicate that one of the reasons that slows them is their lack of confidence in the authenticity of social sellers, while the active users of social trade indicate the policies of returns, reimbursements and changes such asAn improvement area, "says Wright."Trust is a problem that will take time to overcome, but sellers that focus on these areas will be better positioned to increase their market share".

Who buys what

The Accenture report indicates that by 2025 the largest number of social trade worldwide is expected in clothing (18% of all social trade by 2025), consumption electronics (13%) and home decoration (7%).Fresh food and snacks also represent a large category of products (13%), although sales are almost exclusive to China.Beauty and personal care are expected to be lower in terms of total social trade sales, quickly win e -commerce land and capture more than 40% of average digital expenditure for this category in key markets by 2025.

Accenture Research conducted a series of studies on social trade to better understand the nature of this opportunity.We design and do an online survey at 10.053 Social Network Users in China, India, Brazil, the United States and the United Kingdom.The online study was conducted between August 12 and September 3, 2021.We also conduct in depth interviews with buyers and vendors of those same five markets between May 26 and June 2, 2021.

Accenture's forecasts on the social trade market were developed using economic models, considering the optimization of consumer preferences to accelerate the impulse of the existing market.The Social Commerce market includes the products or services requested through social networks, regardless of the payment or compliance method, covering consumer to consumer (B2C) and consumer transactions (C2C) (C2C).