Social buy buttons slow to take off
Social media has a role in the purchase journey thanks to its potential reach and influence over social users. However, research from SUMOHeavy suggests that product discovery is as far as most consumers today are taking the social buying experience.
SUMOHeavy’s survey of just over 1,000 Internet users in the U.S. (age 18 and older) found that many people know about buy buttons on social media sites such as Pinterest and Facebook, but few have ever used one.
Just over a quarter (26.4%) of those surveyed by SUMOHeavy had never heard of social buy buttons. Of the remainder who did, 45% flat out would not use them. Some had yet to make a purchase via a social media site but were open to the idea (18.7%) and 2.6% had made such a purchase but did not plan on doing so again.
Only 7.3% of respondents had shopped via a social platform and would do so again.
With mobile and desktop the primary ways via which consumers today make purchases, it is not too surprising that social is finding it hard to make headway. However, as the Internet and social increasingly combine content, it may not take long before consumers do not stroll out of social to make a purchase but instead stay within its walls.
