What is Social commerce?
Social commerce is the practice of selling products directly through social media platforms, enabling users to discover, evaluate, and complete purchases without leaving the app.
Instagram Shopping, TikTok Shop, and Pinterest Shopping are the primary social commerce channels. Creators can tag products in posts, Reels, and Stories; viewers tap to purchase in-app. This collapses the funnel from awareness to conversion into a single scroll.
Social commerce works well for impulse-friendly products with clear visual appeal: fashion, beauty, food, and home goods. The shorter the distance between inspiration and purchase, the higher the conversion rate. Products requiring research or comparison tend to underperform.
For brands, social commerce shifts the metric from clicks to direct attributed purchases. Creators participating in social commerce earn commissions via affiliate structures built into the platforms. TikTok Shop in particular has made creator-driven social commerce mainstream.
Related terms
- Affiliate link
- An affiliate link is a unique tracked URL given to a creator so that any purchase or sign-up made through that link is attributed to that creator, who earns a commission on resulting sales.
- Conversion rate
- Conversion rate is the percentage of people who took a desired action (purchase, sign-up, click) out of the total who saw or clicked a piece of content or ad.
- UGC (user generated content)
- UGC, or user generated content, is photo and video content created by everyday creators or customers that a brand uses in its own marketing, such as ads, social posts, and product pages.
- Creator economy
- The creator economy is the ecosystem of people who earn a living by making online content, plus the platforms, tools, and brands that pay and support them.
- Call to action (CTA)
- A call to action is a direct instruction within a piece of content that prompts the audience to take a specific next step, such as clicking a link, using a discount code, or leaving a comment.
More in Monetisation
Social commerce sits in the monetisation part of the glossary. These terms come up in the same conversations and are worth reading alongside it.