Selling products directly through social platforms, where people discover, ask about and buy without leaving the app, or with only a short step out. It includes shoppable posts, in-app shops and selling through chat.
Example
Meera tags products in her Instagram posts and lists them in her WhatsApp Business catalogue. A customer sees a saree on a Reel, opens the catalogue, and orders it over WhatsApp chat with UPI payment.
How you'll hear it
“Half our orders now come through social commerce, mostly WhatsApp chats from Instagram posts.”
Don't confuse it with
- E-commerce: sales on your own website or a marketplace.
- Social selling (B2B): sales people building relationships on LinkedIn, not checkout in an app.
In India: Many Indian small sellers run social commerce through Instagram for discovery and WhatsApp chat plus UPI for the order and payment.
Related terms
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Sources
- Social commerce: definition, trends and best practices, Sprout Social