The ecommerce industry has come a long way since Jeff Bezos first sold books from his garage, and it’s continuing to evolve at a rapid pace. The focus now is on moving away from online shopping being a completely solo experience.
Social media-style shopping could be the next big ecommerce trend, with more community features and interaction between shoppers. This includes a greater focus on live streaming and product pages that look more like Facebook news feeds.
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Ecommerce Sites Are Starting to Borrow Community Features From Entertainment
One of the biggest challenges for all online industries has been trying to recreate the social experience that people would find offline. However, thanks to improved technology, this is now becoming possible. The online bingo market is a prime example of this, with the pastime famous for its prominent social side. Now, when you try online bingo games on Paddy Power, you can find games like the Crystal Room and Cash Cubes that have their own chat rooms. It’s possible to play the bingo rounds and interact through chat at the same time.
YouTube has helped with the rise of live streaming as a form of entertainment too. Content creators will often host live events now that allow them to interact with their fanbase and answer questions in real time. This gives people a chance to feel like they’re part of the channel and that their suggestions are being heard. Some of the leading ecommerce platforms including Amazon and Alibaba are now using live streaming and community chat features to enable a social side to online shopping.
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Live Streaming Has Already Upped the Interaction Opportunities
Live streaming has been one of the biggest updates to social media in the last decade, and it has enabled much greater interaction between viewers and influencers. Ecommerce sites have realised how powerful this tool is, and now it’s a common feature. It allows shoppers to ask questions about products directly, just as they would if they were in a store. What’s more, they can chat to other shoppers who can also share their own experiences about the products, effectively providing reviews in real time.
For many people, live shopping is preferable to scrolling through static images on a website and recreates the real shopping experience more effectively. An article from the BBC notes that 45 per cent of US consumers had already used live shopping in 2024, and that figure is likely much higher now.
Product Pages Becoming More Like Social Media Streams
The traditional product page is changing too, with many brands aiming to replicate features of social media streams designed to keep people scrolling. These now include a variety of ways to display the product, including videos and influencer reviews. Review sections are designed to look more like comments on an Instagram post, and there’s sometimes even the option for products to garner like-style reactions.
One of the most obvious benefits of this style of presentation is that it makes things feel more authentic and helps to boost trust. People are now conditioned to social media, and pages that look like it are likely to trigger feelings of instant familiarity.
With some of the giants of the industry already going for a lot of social media-style features, it’s time for smaller ecommerce to jump on this trend as well. It’s all about trying to make online stores feel more alive and vibrant, with shoppers realising they’re not alone.
David Prior
David Prior is the editor of Today News, responsible for the overall editorial strategy. He is an NCTJ-qualified journalist with over 20 years’ experience, and is also editor of the award-winning hyperlocal news title Altrincham Today. His LinkedIn profile is here.
