Social media is officially in its ‘shoppable’ era – and Amazon is blazing the trail. The e-commerce giant made a splash this holiday season, announcing new partnerships with Meta and Snapchat that grant users a seamless shopping experience. Just click, purchase, and keep scrolling, all without leaving the app.
The state of social commerce
Based on Mintel research, social commerce drove about 5% of US eCommerce sales in 20221 and should reach about 7% by 20252. Growth is slower in the US than other countries like China3, but consumer sentiment is promising. Per Mintel, “nearly half (47%) of US consumers have made a purchase through social media, while 6 in 10 (58%) are interested in doing so.”
So what’s stopping them? It may be the disconnected user experience. Social advertising is already a disruption to business-as-usual doom-scrolling. It’s hard enough to get those thumbs to stop, much less leave their IG feed to buy your product.
In-platform tools like IG and TikTok shops have started to smooth out this experience. But setup and maintenance are a decent lift for brands and media buyers. If you already sell on Amazon, direct integrations could be a win-win-win for consumers, advertisers, and platforms.
Meta and Snapchat + Amazon
Users can now link their Amazon accounts with Meta, and then browse and purchase products directly within Facebook or Instagram. Snapchat launched a similar integration, where users can purchase Amazon products directly from an ad within the app.
These strategic partnerships generally benefit everyone. Consumers have a more streamlined buying experience. Advertisers can capitalize on an easier path to purchase. Meta and Snap can boost their in-app commerce activity. And Amazon can access Snapchat’s younger, highly engaged audience.
What’s the catch?
These integrated experiences remove friction for the user, but there are still some sticking points for advertisers. Historically, Meta advertisers who sell on Amazon have faced reporting gaps and optimization hurdles. With no ability to pixel their Amazon site, buyers have been unable to optimize for purchases and passback sales data. Instead, buyers optimize for link clicks, which are infamous for bringing low-quality traffic from “clicky” users.
Unfortunately, that’s still the case (for now). Per Meta, Amazon “will not share with Meta your specific shopping actions like purchases, product views, or searches.”4 This makes sense for data privacy, but means that media buyers are still stuck with link clicks and reporting gaps.
So, what’s next?
Does driving link clicks to an in-app experience prove more fruitful than driving to your external Amazon shop? Perhaps – but only testing will tell.
Regardless, this is a step in the right direction. These partnerships will prompt feedback from consumers and advertisers that should inform future developments.
Overall, they make for a smoother customer experience. If platforms can secure a sales data loop, it’s game on. Brands could use Amazon purchase and search behavior to inform what creatives and products they show. Media buyers could fill their reporting gaps and properly attribute Amazon purchases. Customers could see more relevant, personalized ads. There’s a lot of power in these potentials. But as always, with great power… comes great responsibility to respect consumer privacy. For more future developments on social commerce, subscribe to Question Everything.
Sources:
1 https://influencermarketinghub.com/social-commerce-stats/#toc
2 https://www.insiderintelligence.com/chart/257872/us-retail-social-commerce-sales-2019-2025-billions-change-of-total-us-ecommerce-saleshttps://www.mintel.com/press-centre/nearly-half-of-us-consumers-say-they-have-made-a
