What Snap Is Showing Us About The Future Of Social Commerce

Marketplaces
Written By Rick Watson

Social Commerce is one of the most vexing topics out there. Which is why I took note of the price tag that $100M+ Snap paid for Fit Analytics. I think it points to the future of social commerce.

While Facebook has been working on horizontal capabilities in its eCommerce buildout, Snap has taken a more vertical approach. In other words, let's pick a few important categories and ask how we would improve the experience in those categories?

Social Commerce has a lot of different definitions, but one of them is allowing influencers to sell your brand on your behalf. Snap recently acquired some new technology called Fit Analytics. The fashion analytics space has really exploded in eCommerce in the past 3 years, and you can count at least several dozen startups who have entered the scene.

Brands yes of course will be able to use this. There are two big questions I have for the big social media platforms:

  • Will they continue to take an "acquisition" approach to new functionality, rather than allow partner ecosystem plugins?

  • In marketplace terms, should we think about influencers the way we thought about the early powersellers on marketplaces like eBay and Amazon? Many were resellers of popular brands and not brands themselves, but they understood the channel.

Rick Watson

Rick Watson founded RMW Commerce Consulting after spending 20+ years as a technology entrepreneur and operator exclusively in the eCommerce industry with companies like ChannelAdvisor, BarnesandNoble.com, Merchantry, and Pitney Bowes.

Watson’s work today is centered on supporting investors and management teams incubating and growing direct-to-consumer businesses. Most recently, in partnership with WHP Global, Rick was a critical resource in architecting the WHP+ platform, a new turnkey direct to consumer digital e-commerce platform that powers AnneKlein.com and JosephAbboud.com.

Watson also hosts a weekly podcast, Watson Weekly, where he shares an unbiased, unfiltered expert take on the retail sector’s biggest players.

In the past year alone, Rick has spoken at many in-person and virtual events as well as podcasts on topics ranging from retail/ecom to supply chain/logistics and even digital grocery including CommerceNext IRL, ASCM Connect, and Retail Innovation Conference.

https://www.rmwcommerce.com/
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