12 Social Commerce Apps for Merchants

Social commerce tools create opportunities for brands and merchants to engage and inspire consumers with entertaining shopping experiences.

Here is a list of social commerce apps for merchants. Most of these are from established social networks that have added commerce functionality. Most are also free unless otherwise noted.

Facebook

Facebook Shops

Facebook is the largest social network, with nearly 3 billion monthly active users. It offers merchants a variety of tools to connect with online shoppers. The Shops feature allows branded storefront tabs for selling, tagging, and advertising physical items. Commerce Manager organizes and shares collections across Facebook and Instagram. Facebook Marketplace is a peer-to-peer platform for new and used goods.

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Instagram

Instagram Shopping

Instagram is a platform for sharing images and videos. The Shopping feature allows brands to curate product collections and detail pages. It includes in-app checkout; product tagging on images, videos, and ads; live shopping; and a notification option for product drop launches. Consumers can place and track orders in direct messages. Sellers can request and receive payment in the same thread using Meta Pay.

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Pinterest

Pinterest Idea Pins

Pinterest is the visual search and discovery platform for sharing product inspiration. It’s one of the leading developers of social commerce. For verified merchants, Pinterest offers Shop tabs, integrating with platforms such as Shopify and WooCommerce for product feeds. It features advanced product tagging (up to eight per scene), shoppable product and Idea Pins enriched with metadata, augmented reality try-on functionality for beauty and home products, and visual search with its Lens tool. fhpcn

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Twitter

Live Shopping on Twitter

Twitter is a social network for real-time news and communications that offers a slew of shopping features to help merchants reach consumers. Twitter Shops lets merchants handpick up to 50 products to showcase. Product Drops help merchants promote and connect with users when items launch. Twitter Live Shopping allows merchants to produce shoppable videos for live events and integrates with merchant websites to ensure the social and shopping experiences are seamless.

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Amazon Live

Amazon Live

Amazon Live lets brands inspire, inform, and entertain an audience with real-time interaction and shoppable content. Merchants can chat and engage with consumers, highlight products in a carousel, and share promotion codes and deals. There are opportunities to integrate with Amazon-produced live shows, which are curated and often themed. Brands can also sponsor influencer live streams produced by top content creators using the Amazon Live Creator app. Shoppers that follow your brand on Amazon are eligible to get reminders when you go live.

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YouTube

YouTube Blog: Ready, Set, Shop

YouTube continues to help businesses connect and interact with viewers in shoppable ways. All eligible creators can now access live shopping features, such as the ability to tag products to a live stream. YouTube recently announced a new partnership with Shopify to enable creators and merchants to link their Shopify stores and feature products across their YouTube channels and content. The partnership integrates with Shopify’s real-time inventory syncing. Creators in the U.S. can enable onsite checkout so that viewers can complete their purchases without leaving YouTube.

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Snapchat

Sharing eBay listings on Snapchat.

Snapchat is a social app for sharing moments through videos, images, texts, and augmented reality lenses. Users can now share eBay listings using the Snapchat camera. Select any listing through the eBay app, click the share icon and tap the “Snapchat” option to automatically jump to the Snapchat camera with the automated eBay sticker. Create an original snap with the eBay sticker and layer using creative tools. The eBay sticker will take the recipient or viewer directly to the listing.

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TikTok

TikTok Shopping

TikTok is a short-form video-sharing app with many product-focused users. The hashtag #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt has over 18 billion views. Last year the app launched TikTok Shopping in partnership with Shopify. According to TechCrunch, TikTok is now testing a dedicated Shop tab to let users browse and purchase products directly on the platform, similar to the Shops feature of Facebook and Instagram.

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WeChat

WeChat

WeChat is a China-based social media, messaging, and mobile payment app. It is one of the largest mobile messaging apps, with over 1 billion monthly active users. WeChat users can send mobile payments, make video calls, pay utility bills, schedule doctor appointments, order taxis, play games, share locations, and more. WeChat’s social commerce features include stores, mini-program apps such as games, and the WeChat Good Product Circle, which lets users see what others are buying.

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Pinduoduo

Pinduoduo is the biggest online marketplace for agricultural products in China. It’s one of the best apps to see social commerce in action. Pinduoduo wants to be an online shopping app that’s interactive and entertaining, where everyone can discover fun and savings together. Rather than by standard search, users find products suggested by Pinduoduo. When they are ready to purchase, shoppers can join or start a product team to drive more collective savings. Pinduoduo also offers incentives to interact, encouraging shoppers to post products and reviews.

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Creator.co

Creator.co

Creator.co helps brands connect with influential creators for social commerce. Use self-serve or work with a campaign specialist to automate your influencer campaigns. Build a campaign on your terms and invite qualified creators to collaborate. Sign up to connect your Shopify or WooCommerce store with creators to drive sales on any platform. Brand pricing starts at $395 per month.

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Shop Social

Shop Social

Shop Social turns Instagram media into shoppable galleries on your online store. Tag multiple products on Instagram. Monitor clicks and performance at the admin panel, and integrate with Google Analytics. Direct everyone on Instagram to your URL or integrate your Instagram feed to your website. Add a product gallery tab to Facebook. Shop Social is $49 per month.

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