Think about the last time you bought something you weren’t planning to buy. Maybe it was a product that popped up in your feed. A video that showed something in a way you hadn’t seen before. A post that made you think “I need that” before you had any idea you were in a buying mindset.
That’s not an accident. That’s social commerce, and it’s reshaping how people discover and decide to buy from businesses of every size and in every market, including yours.
The Line Between Scrolling and Shopping Has Disappeared
Social commerce isn’t just TikTok teenagers buying lip gloss. It’s the way your customers are increasingly finding, evaluating and deciding to do business with you, often before they’ve ever set foot in your door or picked up the phone.
According to eMarketer, U.S. social commerce sales will surpass $100 billion for the first time in 2026, an 18% jump from the year before. There are now more than 117 million social commerce buyers in the United States. That’s roughly one in three Americans completing at least one purchase influenced by social media this year.
And here’s what affects how you think about your marketing: people aren’t opening Facebook or Instagram because they want to shop. They’re shopping because they were already on Facebook or Instagram. Purchase intent no longer precedes discovery — it follows it. Customers are forming opinions about your business, your products and your brand while they’re scrolling, long before they show any sign of being in the market.
Where It’s Happening
Social commerce is an ecosystem, and different platforms play different roles in how your customers move from awareness to action.
Younger demographics (and increasingly Gen X) are skipping traditional search engines like Google altogether when looking for recommendations, local services or product reviews, instead heading straight to social media. Facebook remains the most widely used social commerce platform in America. By the end of 2026, nearly 81 million Americans are expected to shop on Facebook, according to SellersCommerce. For businesses marketing to rural audiences especially, this is a valuable space. Facebook isn’t going anywhere, and the audience there is broad, loyal and active.
Instagram is the top-rated social commerce platform overall, with about 130 million users interacting with shopping tags every month, according to HubSpot. It’s particularly strong for discovery. People find products on Instagram they didn’t know they were looking for.
YouTube is where trust gets built. It’s the top platform for product discovery among both Gen Z and Millennials, according to Sprout Social’s 2026 Content Strategy Report, because long-form video gives businesses the space to show what they do and explain why it matters. A well-produced YouTube video about your services, team or process does what a 15-second ad simply can’t. Read more in our article on Why YouTube is the Search and Social Powerhouse Your Brand Needs.
Pinterest is the high-intent discovery platform. People go there with purpose, looking for ideas and ready to act on them. In fact, 85% of weekly Pinterest users have made a purchase based on content they saw on the platform.
Each platform is also investing heavily in removing friction between seeing something and buying it. Meta has embedded shopping directly into livestreams. Pinterest launched an AI-powered discovery tool that guides users through purchasing decisions conversationally. The platforms are not waiting for commerce to come to them. They are building it in.
You Don’t Have to Sell Directly on Social to Benefit
This is the part that trips most businesses up. Social commerce does not necessarily mean setting up a TikTok Shop or running Instagram checkout. For many businesses, especially those in services, health care, agriculture, energy and other industries where the sale doesn’t happen with a click, the value of social commerce is in the discovery and consideration stages, not the transaction itself. A huge part of social discovery happens in DMs, group chats, text threads and screenshot sharing.
What that means practically: when someone sees your content consistently, watches a video that explains what you do, reads a review that confirms what a neighbor told them or comes across a post that makes your business feel familiar before they’ve ever contacted you, that is social commerce working for you. You are influencing a purchase decision without ever asking for one.
The businesses winning in this environment aren’t necessarily the ones with the biggest ad budgets. They’re the ones showing up consistently with content that feels real, reflects who they are and gives people a reason to pay attention. According to Sprout Social, 82% of consumers use social media for product discovery and research. That research is happening whether or not you’re participating in it. The question is whether your business is part of the conversation.
What This Means for Your Marketing
You don’t need to overhaul your strategy because of this. However, you do need to make sure a few elements are in place.
Your social presence needs to reflect your actual business. If someone discovers you on Facebook and what they find looks outdated, inconsistent or quiet, that’s a first impression you don’t get back. The content doesn’t need to be perfectly polished; it needs to be real and regular. Social commerce thrives on authenticity. Behind-the-scenes content, employee spotlights or user-generated content often perform significantly better than polished corporate graphics.
Video matters more than it used to. Businesses using short-form video consistently are showing up in more feeds, getting more engagement and building more trust than those that aren’t. You don’t need a production crew. You need a phone, something worth showing and the willingness to show it. Algorithms reward platforms that keep users on the app. Content that delivers immediate value or answers a question right in the feed performs better than content that just says “Click the link in our bio to learn more.”
Reviews are part of social commerce too. What customers say about you publicly, on social platforms and review sites, shapes decisions for people who have never met you. Encouraging happy customers to leave reviews is one of the highest-return marketing moves a business can make right now.
Also, your social content should connect somewhere. If someone finds you and wants to learn more, there should be a clear next step: a user-friendly website, a phone number that’s easy to find and a messaging system that actually gets answered.
The Bottom Line
Your customers are not waiting until they’re ready to buy to start forming opinions about who they’ll buy from. They’re doing it right now, on their phones, in their feeds and between other tasks. Social commerce is not a trend to watch from a distance. It’s the way discovery works in 2026.
The good news is you don’t have to be everywhere. You just have to be somewhere that matters, showing up consistently enough that when someone is ready, you’re already familiar. Want to make sure your brand is showing up where your customers are scrolling? Reach out to our team to audit your social media strategy.
Sources
https://sproutsocial.com/insights/ecommerce-trends/
https://www.sellerscommerce.com/blog/social-commerce-statistics/
https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/social-media-reshaping-retail
