Spark Foundry, the UK Acceleration agency, part of Publicis Media, has used a mix of agency insight tools to discover current trends in consumer spending online.
Using Social Sparks (social listening), Intent-Based Planning (semantic analysis) and The Street (external panel), Spark Foundry’s ‘Insights Accelerated’ report looks at the differences in consumer spending habits when it comes to social commerce, the metaverse, and sustainability.
Social shopping continues to grow despite the cost-of-living crisis, consumer interest grows significantly in live shopping and Meta remains king. Other Social Commerce key findings are that:
- Almost two thirds of people made more than one purchase through a social platform over the summer.
- Almost half of all purchases were £20 or less. Even during an economic crisis, people still allow themselves to buy little luxuries.
- In Q3, Meta maintained its lead at the top of the commerce charts with nine out of ten people who purchased something through social media saying they used Meta (55% Facebook and 39% Instagram).
- TikTok has grown from 17% penetration to 20%, a small but noticeable rise in the national population. Yet when we cut the audience by age, things really start to change.
- For under 25s, 34% have bought something on TikTok, while a more modest 37% have purchased through Facebook and 44% on Instagram.
- 71% of people who hadn’t previously used live shopping said they were likely or very likely to do it in the next three months.
On social commerce, Marcos Angelides, Chief Strategy & Innovation Officer at Spark Foundry UK said: “Despite cost-of-living worries, consumers are currently still willing to buy themselves a ‘treat’ purchase. This should give confidence to brands as the economy continues to stumble. But as ever, price point and platform are key, and this report shows that interest in ecommerce continues to grow, especially on Meta and TikTok.
The key findings around the metaverse conversation showed that it might need a new name, and that Amazon is the winning marketplace when it comes to gamers. Other key metaverse findings are that:
- There was no increase in mentions for the metaverse over the past three months. In fact, there was a significant decline (-19%), with most mentions connected to minting projects.
- Metaverse mentions are heavily linked to professionals rather than consumers; Commenters are six times more likely to work in finance and five times more likely to work in sales or marketing.
- Gaming remains the largest and most established marketing opportunity. Web3 has a huge role to play in the future of gaming, but the word ‘metaverse’ may not.
- Discussions around gaming continue to grow; in the past quarter the total volume increased by 10% despite there being few major releases to stoke the fires.
- While most topics see a healthy proportion of comments happening on Twitter, gaming is very different. Over 90% of conversations happen on forums, with Reddit being the standout leader.
On the metaverse, Marcos said: “Brands need a bespoke approach to gaming that incorporates the unique habits, media behaviours and interests of this community. That will take a little work, but for the brands who do it right, it offers a huge advantage to stand out from the competition. Those brands looking to get into the gaming category should look to align it with their wider Amazon strategy as gamers are using the retailer for most of their purchases, which offers all sorts of branding and sales opportunities for complimentary brands.”
The key findings around Sustainability showcase that the cost-of-living crisis won’t kill sustainable fashion but that automotive brands should look to increase their SUV share of voice and food brands should look to harness searches for sweet treats. Other key sustainability findings include:
- 41% of automotive searches are linked to consideration (this includes prices and key features), and 22% are within intent (including test drives and leasing options).
- Most searches are related to SUVs (85%), which suggests people are looking to offset the environmental impact of a larger car by searching for an electric model.
- Searches within sustainable food dipped in the past three months. This is partially due to the fact people still associate it with ‘clean living’, which is highest in the early part of the year.
- Most searches still focus on sweets and desserts (36%), while alternative meat sources make up just 9%.
- Most searches are still related to product information, rather than being brand specific. This continues to imply that consumers don’t know who to turn to for the best options.
- While other categories saw a decrease in sustainability searches, fashion was the opposite. Search volumes jumped 44% in the past three months. Of which, 33% were related to lower funnel behaviours (such as ‘where to buy sustainable clothing’) showing that it is becoming a key part of the purchase journey.
- eBay dominates the resale market with 64% of searches.
On sustainability, Marcos said: “Automotive brands should take advantage of the increase in electric model interest by prioritising comms around their EV models. Increasing share of search now will correlate to higher share of market in the future – presenting both a short- and long-term opportunity to be had.”
All findings with insights and implications for each topic can be accessed in Spark Foundry’s Insights Accelerated report here.