social commerce in the beauty industry

Social Commerce Boom: What It Means for Beauty

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Original Article By Eric Dahan: Beauty Packaging

The pandemic helped accelerate social commerce adoption. Stay-at-home orders and business closures forced consumers to look elsewhere for connection. For many, that meant scrolling through social media apps on their devices. When Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube offered the complete shopping experience — from product discovery to purchase — consumers started embracing it as the next best thing to in-person shopping.

Social Commerce Will Outpace Ecommerce

According to Accenture, the $492 billion global social commerce industry is projected to hit $1.2 trillion by 2025, a growth rate three times that of traditional ecommerce.

Millennials and Gen Z have been driving this transformation of social platforms into full-fledged retailers. They’re expected to account for 62% of social commerce spend by 2025.

What This Means for Beauty

The beauty industry is well-positioned to capitalize on the opportunity — and not just because Millennials and Gen Z are a key demographic.

The industry’s early adoption of livestreaming set the stage for social commerce. For years, brands and creators have been cementing deep, authentic connections with consumers through product unboxings, reviews, recommendations, and makeup tutorials. Many have incorporated live shopping to create even more immersive experiences.

Including checkout capabilities within the social platform or a social shop means brands can own the entire customer journey.

Social Commerce Requires Trust

But not everyone is ready to exchange money on social platforms, especially when it’s easy to hop over to the brand’s website or online marketplace to complete the purchase.

However, Beauty’s in an excellent position, bolstered by its social-savvy demographic and powerful creators whose uniquely devoted audiences trust them. Whether that spurs rapid, widespread adoption of social commerce remains to be seen, but the opportunity is undoubtedly Beauty’s for the taking.