While a lot of social media platforms have showed interest in producing “buy” buttons for ads on their sites for some time, they don’t seem to have equal reception when it comes to consumer use.
A new report from eMarketer indicates that, based on numbers reported by a November 2015 poll conducted by GlobalWebIndex, Tumblr showed the most popularity when it came to whether users would be interested in using a “buy” button – and even that number came in at a low at 17 percent. Other sites that followed closely behind were Instagram with 14 percent, Pinterest with 13 percent, Twitter with 12 percent and Facebook with 9 percent.)
Even with the reemergence of social commerce on many of these sites, it appears that buying direct is a practice that still hasn’t caught on. Regardless, some retailers believe that using these buttons could result in some form of revenue change, as indicated on the chart below.
So will “buy” buttons take off There are a couple of pain points that come into play, like the security of using them on a site that already has most of your information gathered. In addition, some consumers simply like shopping around a particular site for deals, such as Amazon, instead of jumping onto something randomly offered through a social site.
This practice could obviously change as more effective methods are introduced around the “buy” button, particularly if companies introduce special deals that are coordinated with them. For now, though, it appears interest is at a minimum level, even though some companies remain optimistic.
Another study from Boston Retail Partners pointed out that, once the end of next year rolls around, retailers expect to see a 34 percent increase through social media, including the use of “buy” buttons. However, 28 percent stated that there was no change expected from this.
Liz Zink, the social media strategist at online menswear and accessories retailer JackThreads, told eMarketer such buttons could do wonders for business: “Not only have the buy buttons been incredibly exciting for us, but [there’s] also the opportunity to advertise and reach a larger scope of audience.â€
