Social media accounts users followed and purchased from 2023, by generation
According to a global survey conducted in 2023, roughly two-thirds of Millennials followed and purchased goods from the social media accounts of brands. Overall, about half of Gen Z users followed and purchased from influencers, whilst just 11 percent of Baby boomers did. Additionally, six out of ten respondents belonging to the Gen X age group followed and purchased from the social media accounts of retailers.
A booming market
In recent years, social commerce has exploded in popularity among online shoppers. Consumers can now purchase items directly on social media platforms, going from discovery to purchase in a matter of minutes. Social commerce is estimated to reach over one trillion U.S. dollars in revenue by 2028, up from 699 billion in 2024. This new form of e-commerce is the most popular in Thailand, where around 91 percent of online consumers use social sites as a purchase channel. In comparison, this share stood at 57 percent in the United States.
Chinese platforms dominate the social space
Chinese social shopping sites are the most successful ones worldwide. For example, Douyin, a short-form video sharing app, ranked as the highest revenue-generating platform in 2024, raking in approximately 199 billion U.S. dollars. WeChat, a messaging app, came in second with a revenue of 152 billion dollars, followed by Little Red Book, a picture sharing app, with a revenue of 94 billion dollars. TikTok, which is owned by the Chinese company ByteDance, came in sixth place, pulling in 20 billion dollars in revenue. While TikTok's popularity extends globally, its on-app purchase store, TikTok Shop, primarily caters to the Asian market. Thus, it is clear that China is the global leader in social selling.
