Harris Poll: 42% of users are more concerned about information security in social commerce

199IT original compilation

Social commerce is nothing new, and Twitter recently added in-blog purchases as another effort to promote social media shopping. But how many American digital buyers complete their purchases on social platforms? Not many. An August 2014 Harris Poll for DigitasLBi found that only 5% of American online adults shop on social networks such as Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest.

According to the study, better security measures can promote consumers to shop on social platforms. 42% of users said that they would be more willing to shop on social platforms if their credit information was safe, and 38% said that not sharing their shopping information would increase the likelihood of shopping on social networks.

One-third of the respondents are willing to buy goods with a total amount of less than $25 on social platforms, and further answers show that the total amount limit will affect whether consumers shop on social networks. Most people said that price plays an important role in shopping on social websites, and 35% said that they would even use social tags if there is a discount.

Although many people hope that shopping on social platforms will be safer, about a quarter of the respondents said that they would not stop shopping on social networking sites even if it meant that brands would know their consumption history. eMarketer predicts that the number of social networking site users in the United States will grow by 4.5% this year to 173.2 million people, accounting for 68.5% of Internet users and 54.3% of the total population. This is very attractive to retailers.

Compiled from: eMarketer Translator: Sun Ying