Convenience trumps concern for social shoppers, MarkMonitor

More than 90% of consumers have concerns about shopping via social media, yet nearly one-third still use it as a shopping platform, according to new research from MarkMonitor.

A survey of 2,603 consumers from the UK, US, France, Germany and Italy found that they are worried about payment security (59%), the quality of goods (56%), safety of their personal details (55%) and buying a fake (47%). 31% said they had unwittingly bought a fake item online and, of that portion, 23% purchased the product via social media. In addition, 63% didn’t believe enough was being done by brands, online marketplaces and social media platforms to protect them from counterfeiters, fraud and cyber criminals.

When it comes to buying decisions on social media, reputation of the brand is the most cited influence (55%), followed by peer reviews (48%) and if friends and family have liked the channel (34%). Celebrity endorsement also plays a role for 23% of respondents.

Two-thirds of shoppers say they trust the information shown by shopping sites on social media while 30% are comfortable using their credit card to make a purchase. And while they are happy to purchase clothing, home accessories and electronic goods, there are items they say they would never buy via this method. This includes jewellery (27%), booking a holiday (27%), health products (26%) and event tickets (24%).

Chrissie Jamieson, VP of Marketing at MarkMonitor, comments: “Organisations need to ensure they incorporate social media platforms in their online brand protection strategies to protect shoppers and their own reputation. Many social media platforms already have mechanisms in place to guard against the sale of the counterfeits and are constantly improving ways to detect and report fakes, but it’s clear that consumers feel more needs to be done by all stakeholders moving forward.”