The rapid rise of social buying

To put the scale of the ‘social buying’ opportunity into perspective, Savvy found in its recent Shopper Panel research that 42% of all UK shoppers report to have bought something directly as a result of seeing it on social media, such as clicking on a ‘buy now’ button.

Social buying is particularly prevalent among younger shoppers, with 60% of 18-34s having bought after clicking through a social post (compared to only 26% among 55-64 year olds). Younger shoppers are particularly active users of Instagram (63% of 18-34s), which offers the ability to buy through tagged products, as well as ‘buy now’ call to action buttons.

The rise of social buying has encouraged a new generation of highly innovative brands and retailers to enter the market. More than ever these smaller interesting brands are setting the agenda, while many well established players struggle to be as nimble and reactive. Crucially we expect it will increasingly be innovation rather than scale which will define success for brands and retailers targeting younger audiences.