Social Commerce news and archive

TikTok to pause European e-commerce push to focus on US market

European brands and retailers who rely on social commerce to sell their collections will be disappointed to hear TikTok is pausing its European shopping platform as it focuses on the growth of its US market. The shortform video parent ByteDance has been under intense scrutiny in the US, where government officials oppose TikTok because of its...

Business

Xcel Brands invests in new social commerce marketplace Orme

Media and consumer products company Xcel Brands, which specialises in livestream shopping and social commerce, has co-founded a new short-form video marketplace with KonnectBio, Inc., called Orme, taking a 30 percent stake in the platform. Robert W. D’Loren, chairman and chief executive officer of Xcel, said in a statement: “Orme is an...

BusinessFeatured

Maka raises 2.65 million US dollars to simplify buying fashion in Africa

Africa’s leading fashion and beauty e-commerce platform Maka has raised a 2.65 million US dollar pre-seed round, co-led by venture capital firms 4DX Ventures and Janngo Capital, as it looks to simplify buying fashion and beauty products in Africa. The social media commerce platform, founded by chief executive Diana Owusu-Kyereko in 2021, said...

Fashion

Social media drives Gen Z shopping habits

LTK, the creator-guided shopping platform, has revealed that influencers are driving the majority of Gen Z’s shopping decisions, with 79 percent stating that their shopping originates from social media. According to LTK’s latest ‘Gen Z Shopping Study,’ social commerce has a major impact on Gen Z shopping behaviours, both online and in-store,...

RetailFeatured

Will 2023 be the year of social e-commerce?

Long the norm in China, social e-commerce, shopping via platforms such as TikTok, YouTube and Amazon Live, may soon see similar success in the West. Social shopping and online sharing are blending and live social networking is finding audiences outside of China, writes Reuters. “ByteDance-owned TikTok introduced the concept in the United States...

Business

Amazon rolls out social commerce feature, not unlike TikTok

Amazon on Thursday launched a feature allowing shoppers to buy products from a customised feed of photos and videos, not dissimilar to ByteDance’s TikTok network. The experimental feature will roll-0ut in the U.S. after a trial of selected customers in its launch phase, where users can select their interests and receive the most relevant feeds....

Business

TikTok Shop will focus on UK, Southeast Asia for now

Last year, Chinese platform TikTok launched TikTok Shop, a livestream shopping option in the UK, its strongest market outside of Asia. This option was supposed to be introduced in strong European markets like Germany, France, Spain and Italy too, but this has not happened so far. Contrary to earlier reports, however, TikTok has not abandoned to...

Business

Social commerce soars in the US but security and trust still a concern

The Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated consumer adoption of online shopping, including shopping on social media, with more than a third (39 percent) of US shoppers stating that they have made a purchase on social media and would do so again. New research from Mintel reveals that 61 percent of 25-34-year-olds buy on social media, while 81 percent...

RetailFeatured

Social media shopping to hit 1.2 trillion US dollars by 2025

Global social commerce, shopping via social media platforms, is going to grow three times as fast as traditional e-commerce from, 492 billion to 1.2 trillion US dollars by 2025, according to a new report from Accenture. Today, 10 percent of all e-commerce spending is done via social commerce, and in the next three years, this number is expected...

Fashion

In its latest crackdown, China fines top livestream influencer Viya 210 million dollars for tax evasion

One of China’s most prolific online sales influencers, Huang Wei, better known as Viya in her livestream persona, was fined a record 210 million dollars (1.34 billion yuan) for tax evasion. Viya, who sells and moves millions of goods via livestreaming, allegedly failed to declare more than 700 million yuan in taxes between 2019 and 2020....

Retail

Baukjen introduces social commerce

London-based womenswear brand Baukjen is launching social commerce. The premium brand has teamed up with digital commerce company Curalate for the new feature which will allow consumers to explore shoppable customer-generated content on Baukjen’s website homepage and in a dedicated ‘Shop their style’ section. Instagram posts tagged ‘BaukjenStyle...

Fashion

Lulu Guinness launches onsite social commerce

British handbag and accessories retailer Lulu Guinness is launching onsite social commerce in a bid to create “a more engaging customer experience.” The retailer is working with social commerce specialist Curalate to bring user generated content in a shoppable format onto its website. Using Curalate’s technology, Lulu Guinness will collate...