What you need to know
Social commerce has moving from the periphery to central stage, especially with Pinduoduo’s group buying-and-discount model continuously grabbing headlines last year and being adopted by almost all ecommerce players. Meanwhile, ecommerce operators are also expanding to new categories and using new distribution channels and new promotion formats to attract more consumers.
Consumers of all age have joined the social commerce spree with great enthusiasm. Besides enjoying affordable prices, detailed product reviews and recommendations from friends and family, some also become distributors or sellers themselves and gain a sense of ownership and recognition for homemade products. Dynamic development of social commerce platforms goes beyond motivating active shoppers and sellers but also successfully unlocking the potential of more male and senior consumers who have not been key targets of some manufacturers and brands.
Therefore, as the boundary between social commerce and traditional ecommerce blurs, they will eventually be competing on the same playing field. To maintain the low-price selling point is attractive now but could be devastating for social commence platforms in the future if product authenticity is sacrificed. Social commerce brands will need to put more of their focus on quality and service.
Covered in this Report
Social commerce discussed in this Report is defined as ecommerce based on social media or using social interactions as the main source of business. It includes platforms that feature social interactions or content sharing besides ecommerce functions, on which registered merchants range from enterprise players as well as private sellers. Private dealers on Weibo/WeChat as well as public accounts/KOLs who at some point start to market products or services once they’ve accumulated a certain number of followers are also included.
Sub-group definitions
Mintel divides consumers into three groups based on their monthly household income.
| Tier one cities | Tier two and three cities | |
| Low household income | RMB 5,000-9,999 | RMB 4,000-7,999 |
| Middle household income | RMB 10,000-15,999 | RMB 8,000-13,999 |
| High household income | RMB 16,000 and above | RMB 14,000 and above |
The Report also looks into behaviours and attitudes of heavy and light social commerce platform users. Heavy user indicates those who have conducted at least four types of actions through social commerce platforms, while light user indicates those who have conducted 1-3 types of actions through social commerce platforms.
