Just a few years ago, social media was mainly a place for entertainment and brand image building. Today, it is becoming a fully-fledged sales channel where customers not only view content but also make purchases immediately. Social commerce – i.e., trading directly on social media – is a trend that will become hugely important in 2025. For online stores, this means an opportunity to shorten the purchasing path and reach customers where they spend most of their time.
Why is social commerce growing in popularity?
Modern consumers increasingly make purchasing decisions based on recommendations from friends, influencers, and content that appears in their feed. Social media has become a place to discover products—from clothing and cosmetics to electronics and home accessories.
Thanks to shopping features, the process is lightning fast: customers see a product in a post or video, click on it, and buy it without leaving the app. This eliminates traditional barriers – going to the store's website, creating an account, filling out long forms. The shorter the path from inspiration to transaction, the greater the chance that the purchase will be completed.
Facebook Shops – a product catalog at your fingertips
Facebook Shops allows you to create a complete product catalog available directly on your fan page. The store can be integrated with your own website and e-commerce system, ensuring that your offer is always up to date.
This is extremely convenient for customers—they don't have to leave the app to browse products, compare prices, and complete transactions. For sellers, it's an additional promotional space that works well with paid advertising campaigns on Facebook and Instagram.
Instagram Shopping – the visual power of inspiration
Instagram is a platform dominated by images and short videos. The Instagram Shopping feature allows you to tag products in photos and reels so that users can immediately proceed to purchase. This tool is particularly effective in lifestyle industries such as fashion, cosmetics, and interior design.
Imagine a customer browsing through a photo of an outfit – with one click, they can check the price of shoes or a handbag and buy them without leaving the app. It's a natural, unobtrusive way to combine inspiration with a purchasing decision.
TikTok Shop – shopping driven by trends
TikTok has launched its own sales platform, TikTok Shop, which combines video with instant purchasing. Influencers and short videos showing products in action play a key role here.
Thanks to TikTok's algorithm, even a small brand has a chance to reach thousands of viewers, and if the product becomes part of a popular trend, sales can skyrocket. TikTok Shop works particularly well for impulse products – gadgets, cosmetics and everyday accessories.
Social commerce advantages
The biggest advantage of selling on social media is that it shortens the purchasing path. Customers do not have to leave the application, which minimises the risk of them abandoning their shopping cart. In addition, social commerce connects with users' natural behaviour – they are inspired by content, see recommendations from friends or influencers and make purchases.
It is also a great way to build a community around a brand. The shop is no longer just a place for transactions, but becomes part of the customer's everyday experience.
Challenges and limitations
Social commerce also has its challenges. Shops have to take into account the commissions charged by platforms and the limited possibilities for personalising the shop. Sales take place within the Facebook, Instagram or TikTok ecosystem, so the brand has less control over the entire process.
However, this does not mean that it is worth giving up. The best solution is to combine social commerce with your own online shop – social media then becomes an additional channel that supports sales and generates traffic.
How to start selling in social commerce?
The first step is to integrate your shop with the chosen platform – most e-commerce systems already offer ready-made solutions for Facebook Shops, Instagram Shopping or TikTok Shop. The next element is the content strategy – the content must be visually appealing, tailored to the format and evoke emotions.
It is also worth testing cooperation with influencers who can naturally show products to their followers. Authenticity is key here – customers trust creators' recommendations more than classic advertising.
Social commerce is not the future, but the present of e-commerce. Facebook Shops, Instagram Shopping and TikTok Shop open up new opportunities for online stores to reach customers and sell directly in places where consumers spend most of their time.
For e-shop owners, this means adapting to the trend and treating social commerce as an integral part of their sales strategy. Those who do so first will gain an advantage – because in the era of content-driven shopping, speed and convenience are what determine customer loyalty.
