Social Commerce Shoppers Pick Instagram for Apparel, TikTok for Beauty

As consumers begin to adopt social media channels to make purchases, PYMNTS Intelligence found which apps shoppers are turning to for different kinds of retail products.

By the Numbers

The PYMNTS Intelligence report “Tracking the Digital Payments Takeover: Monetizing Social Media” was based on a survey of nearly 3,000 U.S. consumers last year seeking to understand their social commerce behavior.

The study found that among the 14% of consumers who purchased social media in the previous 30 days, the most common type of product bought was apparel. For this, Instagram was the most popular platform, as 47% of Instagram shoppers made such a purchase.

On the other hand, for beauty purchases, the second-most popular category, TikTok was the go-to platform. Thirty-three percent of TikTok shoppers bought such an item, versus 28% of Instagram shoppers.

YouTube, meanwhile, proved the most popular for food and beverage shopping, as 40% of YouTube shoppers made such a purchase, compared to 32% of social commerce shoppers overall.

The Data in Context

As social commerce evolves, influencers are moving beyond product promotion to engaging in storytelling, creating a more genuine connection with their audiences, according to Kit Ulrich, general manager of creator shopping at LTK. Ulrich told PYMNTS last fall that this shift could democratize brand promotion, allowing for greater diversity in the marketplace.

“Creators are becoming this new distribution channel that can do that very authentically,” Ulrich said.

As the fate of TikTok hangs in the balance, influencers maintain that the way the app has changed the social commerce landscape will endure.

“I think what won’t change is style of content that TikTok introduced to audiences around the world — quick, engaging, informative content that gets straight to the point,” Fiona Co Chan, CEO and founder of Youthforia, a skincare brand with more than 190,000 followers on TikTok, told PYMNTS in April.

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