Social commerce is a huge trend driving more and more online sales in both the USA and China. Here’s how to numbers stack up between the two countries.
Online shopping has been a growing trend for the past two decades, with the rise of Amazon and Shopify, but social commerce is a newer trend that is begin to see exponential growth. It is estimated that by 2025 the total US retail social commerce sales will reach close to $80 billion!
These sales skew towards the younger generations, with over half of people aged 18-34 making a social commerce purchase.
What’s most shocking about the statistics on social commerce is its popularity in China relative to that of the USA. It is expected that social commerce will make up 4% of ecommerce sales in the USA in 2021, while it will make up 13.7% in China.
A big driver for this difference is livestreaming social sales which are extremely popular in China and have not yet taken hold in the USA. In fact, $131 billion is expected to be generated from livestream sales alone in China this year.
Wondering what the biggest social commerce sales generator is in the United States? You probably could have guessed that it’s Facebook. Facebook tops the list with 56.1 million buyers on it’s platform.
One potential reason for the big difference in social commerce purchases between China and the USA could be the Chinese preference for digital wallets. 61% of ecommerce purchases in China are made using digital wallets while credit cards are still the primary way Americans purchase goods online, making up 38% of purchases.
It will be interesting to see where these trends head in the future. With a widening acceptance of social commerce and a further transition to digital wallets it would be a good bet that social commerce will continue to grow over the next few decades.
This post was sponsored by insiderintelligence.com