Research carried out by marketing and tech agency DigitasLBi recently found that Facebook has a significant effect on our shopping decisions.
According to the firm’s report, titled Connected Commerce, the world’s biggest social network now influences around 52% of shoppers’ offline and online purchases.
The figure has risen by 16% since the data was last looked at in 2014. Collecting the opinions of 1,000 people, the report surveyed shoppers from 17 countries around the world, including China, the USA, Australia and the UK.
According the study, Facebook is not the only social media site to be seeing a greater level of influence; almost half (46%) of those surveyed said they were influenced by Pinterest, 43% by Instagram and 36% by Twitter.
Platforms like Facebook and Twitter were also found to be serving as direct ecommerce platforms, with more than one in four (about 28%) reporting to have bought something via social media.
Commenting on the findings, Jim Herbert from DigitasLBi spoke about peer pressure and how it has always had a big influence on the items people choose to buy. Further, he said it is now essential for retailers to ensure that social media news feeds are integrated “throughout the entire customer journey”.
The increase in the level of technology available may have had an effect on the take-up of social media as a tool to aid ecommerce. Around 17% of consumers said they now own some form of ‘wearable tech’, while the vast majority of us (73%) have used click and collect services at some point.
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