In 2022, e-commerce broke new records. According to the latest report from Comscore, online spending has never been higher and exceeds one billion dollars. This 21% increase in online purchases compared to 2021 now has the mobile market as the driving force.
Indeed, last year, spending on smartphones overtook those made from desktop computers. By increasing by 26% and then 14% in recent years, mobile commerce represented almost half of online retail sales in the fourth quarter of 2022. A performance obviously linked to the evolution of individual consumption habits, but also the development of social commerce with ever more sponsored commercial content on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok.
Although still “young”, mobile e-commerce has quickly established itself. The convenience of devices, merchant sites and social networks have enabled this growth. The mobile plays a crucial role in our daily life and this is reflected in the way we consume.
One could almost say that certain reflexes are acquired today. The purchase of tickets for events increased by 75% last year, for example.
Comscore analysts also point to the influence that the Covid-19 pandemic may have had on online commerce. While in 2020, it represented 705 billion dollars, it quickly reached 904 billion in 2021, before exceeding a trillion dollars last year. Growth that previously would have taken four years to happen, said Comscore Director of Investigations Ian Essling.
To finish with some figures, social commerce should not stop there. On social media, engagement with brand-sponsored content increased 153% on Facebook and 175% on Instagram. Consumers are interacting more with ads and TikTok is obviously no exception with impressive growth. The ads there reached 12.1 billion views in 2022; an increase of 407% compared to 2.4 billion views in 2020.