Special report
The State of Social Commerce: from search to social
For 20+ years, social has been under-appreciated as a mode for driving commerce — its true impact on sales largely hidden, even from the best attribution models. As paid search and performance marketing plateau, a range of social-commerce tactics hold breakthrough potential: livestream selling, influencer and affiliate selling, brand collaborations, 'private traffic', chat commerce, group buying and AR/VR.
The bigger shift is structural. Social is displacing search as the pivot of the customer journey, with consideration increasingly forming inside communities rather than in private.
- $1.2T
- global social-commerce sales projected by 2025
- 2.5×
- growth in social-commerce sales, 2021 → 2025
- 59%
- of shoppers worldwide have bought via a social channel (2023)
- +43%
- planned rise in Gen Z social spend into 2025
Key findings
What the data shows
01 Social is displacing search
Social is moving to the centre of decision-making. As the report puts it: search is a road sign on the side of the road; social is the party bus rolling through town — where people talk, share and decide together.
02 Four modes of digital growth
Search → Ecommerce/Platforms → Direct-to-Consumer → Social Commerce. The newest mode doesn't replace the others so much as bend them toward new consumer routines.
03 China wrote the playbook
China's social-commerce sales were roughly 10× the US in 2021. China, Brazil and India are 'social-commerce natives', pointing to the upside as the model spreads.
04 It's more than native checkout
The larger role of social is in discovery, consideration and community — working deep into communities and rallying them toward key brand moments — not just direct in-app sales.
05 Gen Z drives the change
Digitally-native buyers make community-led, highly-researched decisions, jumping in and out of social channels — and are set to lift social spend around 43% into 2025.
06 The tactics that convert
Livestream selling, influencer and affiliate selling, brand collaborations and co-creation, private/chat traffic, group buying, and playful, immersive brand experiences.
FAQ
Common questions
- How big is social commerce?
- Global social-commerce sales are projected to reach $1.2 trillion by 2025, up roughly 2.5× from 2021.
- Is social replacing search?
- Increasingly, yes — social is displacing search as the pivot point of the customer journey, especially among Gen Z.
- Where is social commerce most developed?
- China leads by a wide margin — its social-commerce sales were about 10× the US in 2021 — and China, Brazil and India are social-commerce natives.
- What are the main social-commerce tactics?
- Livestream selling, influencer and affiliate selling, brand collaborations and co-creation, private/chat traffic and group buying.
- Do consumers actually buy on social?
- Around 59% of shoppers worldwide had used a social channel to make a purchase as of 2023 — though social's biggest impact is on discovery and consideration.
Get the full report
This is a summary of the headline findings. The full report includes the complete Top 100 ranking, regional breakdowns, category data and the marketers' playbook.
The Combinant's social-commerce research combines proprietary consumer surveys (including a 2024 Gen Z study, n=285) with third-party data from Accenture, Statista and eMarketer.