All you need to know about India’s social commerce growth in 2023 

Social media users in India is expected to grow to around 448 million in 2023. A direct beneficiary of this rapid rise of social media users of course is social commerce. Social commerce or buy-sell via social media has been steadily gaining popularity in India. Many brands however have a universal online sales presence on e-commerce portals as well as their social handles. New brands, first time entrepreneurs are currently driving the bulk of social commerce in India. More and more people from every walk of life is building personal brands and a presence for their products and services on social media.

Growth of social commerce With active social media users rising every day in India, companies are finding ways and means to convert their captive audience into clients. A report by Bain & Company and Sequoia Capital India in 2020 had stated has the potential to grow to $16 to $20 billion in just five years, earning $60 to $70 billion in revenue by 2030.

Why social commerce is growing  On an average, Indians spend three hours per day on social media for posting, scrolling, videos and messaging. This is the time window in which marketing tools are used by companies to target customers. As Indians increasingly spend time on their social media – promotion, buy and sell will continue to rise.  

Big help for small sellers  Small sellers or first-time entrepreneurs are generally considered the backbone of an economy because they keep business circulating. While most small sellers make as little as Rs 10,000 through their social handles per month, the facility for being able to make sales via an Instagram page or a Facebook page encourages entrepreneurship. Consistent sellers also end up expanding and growing their brand over time. 

Opportunity to ‘discover’   Social selling is increasingly becoming popular because the ‘discovery’ potential it offers customers. New brands, with interesting, differentiated products get popular quickly on social media because people first buy to experiment or explore a new product. They return to the product page again if they want. Many products use both social and e-commerce platforms for sale.

Building a brand around communities  Social commerce is not like any other sales where buy-sell is more transactional. Social commerce is developed around building a community – a dedicated based of followers or ‘fans’ who admire the brand, comment and talk about it and even share and promote them. Because social commerce mostly uses influence marketing, a strong base of community is built around a brand within a span of time.

Authentic feedback  Because the products are present on social media and there is a community-connect, the feedback system is strong and usually authentic. Social commerce also leads to a much more engaged shopping experience, and a first-hand connect between the seller and the buyer which helps in forging long term clientele.

Growing along Artificial intelligence driven sales is here to stay. As social commerce grows industries which are directly linked with it including logistics, warehousing and other sales channels of storage and delivery too will continue to grow.