As consumers increasingly shop online, marketplaces such as Amazon (AMZN), eBay (EBAY), Etsy (ETSY), and many more have flourished.
Yet the direct-to-consumer ecosystem is also growing quickly as building blocks in payments, logistics, and discovery come together.
The Social Media Commerce Data Story
In 2020, the number of social network users who made at least one purchase via any social channel reached 80.1 million in the U.S., up 25 percent year-over-year.
With many social media platforms boasting hundreds of millions (if not billions) of active users, the value proposition to direct-to-consumers (DTC) sellers is clear: being able to access a large pool of consumers in a targeted manner, and own the customer relationship in the process.
Channels like Instagram Shops have seen strong improvements in the past several months. Just this week, Shopify (SHOP) extended their checkout and payment system, Shop Pay, to Instragram enabling a more seamless checkout process and driving conversion for merchants.
Others like Pinterest reported a strong quarter, seeing global monthly active users reach 459 million, and emphasized their focus on shopping into 2021.
Twitter: @_SeanDavid
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