Sales Strategy
Why Every Jeweler Should Consider Social Shopping To Grow Their Business | September 15, 2021 (0 comments)
New York, NY—Social media is no longer just about being “social”. It’s now where e-commerce happens and sales are made. Facebook and Instagram have become the ultimate sales channel for the serious jeweler. If you aren’t already familiar with “social shopping”, then you’re missing out on a huge opportunity.
What is social shopping?
Social shopping (also known as social e-commerce) means selling jewelry directly through Facebook, Instagram (and other social channels) while entirely bypassing your website. Instead of trying to push people from one platform to another, you make the sale immediately with the full checkout experience occurring either on Facebook or Instagram. With social shopping you bring your jewelry store direct to the platform where your audience lives.
According to a recent study from Statistica, 48% of users between 18 to 34 have made a purchase through social media and 79% have said that social media has influenced their buying decisions. With nearly 1.5 billion daily active users on Facebook and Instagram, you need to make sure you’re in front of this audience, especially when they’re ready to buy.
What’s the difference between social shopping and social marketing?
Social marketing is using either paid or organic content (text, images and video) to build a relationship with your audience, or as a way to grow traffic to your jewelry website or store. With social shopping the objective is much different. Your goal is to use social media as an additional direct sales channel. You turn what was once an advertising cost into a revenue-generating area.
Why include social shopping within your digital marketing strategy?
Both social marketing and social shopping are critical to growing your business. Social marketing is something which – at a minimum – is an expected business practice. Consumers have come to reply upon a jewelry store’s Facebook and Instagram pages to help them browse jewelry, discover new styles, or pre-shop for a gift for a loved-one even before visiting a store. Think of it as a virtual showcase because that’s what it’s become!
Social shopping shortens the customer’s buying journey and reduces the chance that a customer will abandon the order or get distracted during the checkout process.
As a jeweler, your goal is to encourage people from browsing to buying, as soon as possible. Any way you can reduce friction to streamline the checkout process is worth whatever extra costs Facebook or Instagram may charge. Many of these are jewelry sales or impulse buys you may have likely lost otherwise. It’s found money!
Social shopping combined with strong social marketing and social proof (testimonials) is the magic formula for success. Even if you don’t understand all the technical aspects of how social shopping works, it’s worth exploring and giving it a try to see how your audience responds. You may be surprised with how many sales you make!
Which social media channels offer social shopping?
Facebook was the first to offer direct e-commerce social sales on their platform with their Marketplace area. Facebook Marketplace has already proven to be a strong competitor to Craigslist, Shopify and even Amazon. Millions of dollars a day trade hands on this platform.
The next evolution for Facebook as a sales channel was to open up direct sales through individual business pages so companies could sell directly to their audience, which is how social shopping evolved.
Instagram is the next largest platform where social shopping occurs. You may have seen the “shop now” button or product tags on posts. These are elements of social shopping which provide product discovery and shorten the buying process.
In some ways, Instagram has become even more powerful than Facebook, due to its emphasis on fashion, lifestyle and the rise of influencers. If you want to become a luxury jewelry brand and be taken seriously, you need to be on this platform. Your Instagram marketing strategy can’t be an afterthought.
Pinterest, Twitter and TikTok also have social shopping features, though not as developed. Much on these channels are still in the early stages, but worth exploring. Your success with social shopping is determined by how large your social media audience is. Whichever one of your platforms is the biggest and most active, is where you should be focusing your marketing efforts.
Is social shopping in your future?
Social shopping is the next evolution of e-commerce. Successful jewelers already know the effect social media marketing has had on their business. Since 2005, social media has been disrupting the digital marketing landscape and will continue to do so. Whether you choose to embrace social shopping or not, your business will be impacted. The future is already here and it can’t be ignored.
To learn more, please contact Smart Age Solutions today to redeem your free social shopping integration audit and discover your store’s potential.
Emmanuel Raheb is the founder and CEO of Smart Age Solutions, a full-service award-winning digital marketing agency specializing in the fine jewelry industry. Smart Age’s mission is to grow independent jewelers and help them in their own backyard by running successful digital ad campaigns for clients and developing their web presence. Smart Age Solutions also advises, conducts webinars, and provides unpublished data from Google for its clients. Today, Smart Age Solutions has become synonymous with elevating standards by bringing innovation, strategy and is the agency of record for many of the industry’s leading retailers and enterprise brands. To learn more, contact Smart Age Solutions at: https://form.smartagesolutions.com/contact-us