How social commerce is shaping Kenyan businesses

What is social commerce?

Social commerce is the use of social media platforms such as Facebook , WhatsApp , Instagram etc. to sell and promote your products and services. In comparison to traditional commerce , one can research a potential brand , discover their products and make a purchase all within the confines of one platform. This is proving to be a reliable form of conducting business in Kenya .

It is estimated that approximately 8 out of 10 businesses will be using social commerce in the next three years .

How social commerce differs from ecommerce

They sound similar but in actuality social commerce and ecommerce are two different things .

Ecommerce is involved in the buying and selling of goods online which is a relatively good model however it has flaws. This is because 50% of digital traffic comes from mobile users who are more susceptible to abandoning cart in comparison to desktop users. Hence why the emergence of social commerce which was to help mitigate this challenge.

What platforms do Kenyans use for social commerce?

1.Facebook

Facebook has a very advanced tool for social commerce known as Facebook shops. It is free to set up through a Facebook business profile from meta.

Facebook shops has made it easy for users to set up by providing them with the capability to upload their entire inventory via spreadsheets or if the ecommerce one is using such as shopify has partner platform feature then the business can sync their website to Facebook shops.

Facebook shops on mobile app updates products based on users preferences so as to promote organic traffic and enables users communicate with Kenyan businesses via messenger.

Instagram

Facebook and Instagram are directly linked which means that in order for one to use the Instagram shopping feature one needs a business profile.

Instagram enables one to create product tags that make your items shoppable and discoverable .Through tagging products a Kenyan business is most likely to show up on the Instagram shopping tab.

Instagram has made it very simple for Kenyan creatives to showcase their products and services on the platform due to its emphasis on creativity.

WhatsApp

There are over 175 million people who interact with WhatsApp on a daily while out of this number 97% of Kenyans are active WhatsApp users.

As WhatsApp keeps evolving so does its capabilities. In 2018 WhatsApp business made its way to the Kenyan demographic and has enabled businesses to get timely notifications, have better messaging formats, add to cart and report a business.

This has served business owners well enough for a time however recently the WhatsApp api feature was introduced to the market and is revolutionizing social commerce in Kenya. This is because it allows one to send bulk messages which include videos and images, give 24 hour customer services due to automation features, get customizable templates and integrate ones contacts. However this feature is still a limited resource and would take months to get a developer who can create a platform for you that enables you to use your API.

However HelloDuty provides you with an already developed tool that will help you use these additional features that are guaranteed to give your Kenyan business an edge over others in 2022.

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Benefits of Social commerce for your Kenyan business

Social commerce is proving to be one of the most reliable means of conducting online business in Kenya because ;

1. There were 23.35 million internet users in Kenya which increases the likelihood of being discovered by potential customers just through sharing your business on social media.
2. Seamless conversion rates. Due to the rampant use of social media daily with the number of social media users in Kenya at the start of 2022 being 21.1 percent of the total population, businesses are forced to meet the consumers where they are which is social media. In return it offers the ample opportunity to engage with them in a manner that leads to conversion.
3. Increase in social proof. Due to the ability for social media to be a transparent avenue, consumers can give their honest reviews on the products and services they had acquired from a Kenyan business by liking, sharing ,commenting and saving the businesses content.
4. Gather data. Nothing helps a business more that data. By understanding their potential customers, social habits , a Kenyan business can leverage this information and make informed decisions.

There are so many amazing things that social commerce can do for a business and it is time to jump on the bandwagon today and take your business digital.

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