Published on the 17/07/2025 | Written by Heather Wright

Poor user experience and data loss hinders…

Social media might be driving interest in products, but it isn’t closing the deal locally, with the hype and excitement exceeding reality.

“The promise of social commerce is real,” says Kelsey Chickering, Forrester principal analyst, “but there are a lot of things hindering adoption right now.”

“Treat social commerce like a test kitchen: Look at limited time offers, exclusive product drops, collaborating with creators…”

When Chickering talks social commerce, she’s meaning transactions that consumers start and complete entirely within a social media platform. Just a few years ago, we were all told that as consumers we would soon be purchasing direct via TikTok and Instagram while ordering our pizza as we chatted in Messenger about our dinner plans.

Reality, as is wont, has proved somewhat different – and slower – at least in more mature markets such as Australia, New Zealand, the United States and the UK. (Emerging markets such as India, on the other hand are seeing high adoption of social commerce, at 39 percent versus Australia’s eight percent – something Chickering attributes to those markets not having a more embedded e-commerce experience which consumers are already accustomed too, and which retailers have already invested heavily in. She notes in some emerging countries, Facebook is the internet, so social commerce is more accepted.)

Chickering told iStart while marketing teams in mature markets like Australia and New Zealand are optimistic about social commerce and seem willing to invest and test different strategies, the reality is that the ability – especially for bigger businesses – to scale social commerce programs is small, because the experience on the platforms is still lacking.

Among the key issues is the experience itself. Quite simply, social commerce, Chickering says, is a lacklustre browsing experience.

“If you think about someone trying to shop for a pair of shoes for instance, they might want to browse a few products, look at all the options, use things like a fit guide to determine the size to buy. That in-depth shopping experience is really hard to do on a social media platform where you might be met with a product from an influencer or an Instagram ad and you can’t necessarily do that same level of browsing you might do otherwise.”

Chickering says when it comes to what products are most likely to fit with social commerce, it tends to be those in the lower price point, lower consideration categories, which are more apt for impulse buying.

“We looked at some of the top products trending on TikTok and they were things like t-shirts and shampoo – they were certainly lower consideration items.”

There’s also the issue of loyalty and repeat purchasing. A customer may buy via an influencer link after seeing the influencer tout a product, but the second purchase is unlikely to happen via that link.

“You’re not necessarily going to go to social media to find the product again. You’re going to go direct or to another retailer you have loyalty to, like Amazon or Sephora.

Like many of us, Chickering is open that when she sees an influencer talking about a product such as skincare offerings and decides she wants it, she heads to Sephora to see if she can find the product.

“I’m not necessarily buying within TikTok because to me, getting my Sephora [loyalty] points and free samples is much more important than attributing that sale to the influencer,” she says.

“Because loyalty programs are mostly not attached to social media experiences yet, that becomes another challenge.”

There’s also the big issue of social commerce transactions coming at the expense of precious customer data which can be used to remarket to customers later on.

“By nature of having these walled gardens, you are going to lose some of that customer data if someone chooses to purchase via the platform,” Chickering says. “That’s a big factor for a lot of companies we talk to: You’re going to lose some level of customer data that you would otherwise have had within your CRM.”

There are, however, workarounds such as asking for a customer’s email address in exchange for a discount on their next purchase, when you send the shipping confirmation.

But Chickering says don’t rule out social commerce yet.

“I do believe that if some of the experience changes and as consumers become more and more comfortable with buying on these platforms, we will see a slow burn and we will see some growth. I don’t think though, that social media platforms are ever going to become the dominant place where transactions are happening, especially for bigger brands.”

For those bigger brands, social commerce will become a distribution point, but not the primary distribution point, she says.

For some small and medium sized businesses, meanwhile, social commerce is a ‘great opportunity’ to build a following, grow and sell to new customers. Those smaller businesses are already a mainstay of social commerce on platforms like Tiktok.

“The reality is the things doing the best are not necessarily direct social commerce,” Chickering says. “It’s social-driven commerce [using ads to drive to ecommerce sites] and social-influenced commerce [leveraging creators and influencers to talk about products] that are really where brands are seeing the most success.

“Those drive commerce, but that commerce isn’t necessarily happening on the social media platforms.”

Indeed, Chickering says social commerce – in its strictest sense of having transactions completed on the social platform – isn’t going to be something for every business.

Leveraging social media as a channel to drive commerce efforts is, however, a different story with Chickering saying companies not doing so are going to be missing out.

“It’s an opportunity you should not be ignoring – especially the impact creators are having on that.

“When we look at social media platforms, creators have expertly woven this thread between entertainment and commerce and they are powered by these algorithms that get them in front of more and more people because of the success of their content.

“If you are a retailer who is not considering how to work with creators to drive more product discovery and shopping for your brand, you are missing out.”

For those who are keen to step into the social commerce waters, Chickering has some straightforward advice that starts with knowing your customer base – and your desired customer base.

“Depending on the product category and what the product is, are your audiences spending time on social media platforms, which ones and do you think they exhibit a willingness to shop via those platforms? Is there an opportunity with that audience?”

Second is to think carefully about your product categories.

Chickering notes one lingerie company which thought its offerings would be easy to sell on social media given they were not a high price point and not necessarily big time investments to make the buying decision. They quickly discovered consumers didn’t want to buy their bras via social media because they wanted to be able to use fit guides and compare offerings. They’ve now started testing out which products are actually right for social media.

“Not every category is a good fit for social commerce, so look at your SKUs and making a determination of which, if any, of these products would be really good for a shop, for instance, on TikTok.

“As brands are thinking about the product categories that might work, think about what might be good for impulse buys, what doesn’t require a consideration, what might be a lower price point and something customers might be willing to take a chance on.”

And the final tip: Test, test and test some more.

“One of the things we saw in our research was brands can have some success if they look at things like a limited time deal or offer or a product drop that is exclusive to that platform.”

That’s something works for both bigger businesses and is an opportunity for smaller businesses to create some excitement around products.

“Treat social commerce like a test kitchen: Look at limited time drops and offers, exclusive product drops, collaborating with creators on new products like we saw with Tabasco, which worked with a creator who always talked about putting Tabasco on her salads, and created a Tabasco salad dressing.

“That sort of stuff creates buzz, gives people a reason to shop and gets them excited, so those are the types of executions I would be considering to start.”

And, she adds, don’t forget to supplement those with social-driven and social-influenced commerce.