Social Commerce to Become a Trillion-Dollar Industry by 2028

Although tech giants Amazon, Alibaba, eBay, and JD.com drive most global ecommerce sales, social media networks like Facebook and Instagram have become hot spots for online shopping, drawing more and more users over the years.

According to data presented by Stocklytics.com, the global social commerce market is expected to gross $688 billion in 2024, 20% more than last year. This figure will grow by another 57%, with social commerce becoming a trillion-dollar industry by 2028.

Social Commerce to Make Almost 20% of Global Online Sales by 2028

The rise of social commerce and its biggest component, live-streaming ecommerce, has been meteoric. This fusion of social media, live streaming, and online shopping has drawn hundreds of millions of people across the globe, allowing them a new, unique experience where they can ask questions, receive instant responses, and even complete purchases directly within the app.

The surging number of users helped the entire market to increase eightfold in six years. According to a Statista Market insights survey, back in 2018, the global social commerce market grossed roughly $81 billion. Since then, this figure surged by 750%, or by an average of 46% per year, and hit $688 billion in 2024. Although the annual growth rate is expected to halve in the following years, the market will still reach a new, massive milestone.

Statista expects global social commerce revenues to continue surging by $100 billion per year, helping the market hit over one trillion value by 2028. The share of social commerce in the global ecommerce market will also increase in this period. Statistics show that social commerce made less than 5% of global online sales six years ago. Since then, its market share more than tripled and hit 16.7% this year. With more and more online shoppers turning to social media to buy products, this figure will touch almost 20% by 2028.   

In global comparison, China is the single largest player in the social commerce landscape, and that won`t change in the future. Statista expects the Chinese market to grow by 57% and hit $824 billion in revenue by 2028, two-thirds of the world`s total that year. As the second-largest market globally, North America will see a 55% growth and $148 billion in revenue by 2028. Although far behind the top two markets in revenue, the European social commerce sector will grow even more. Statista expects the revenue in the European market to jump by 77% and hit $48 billion in the next four years.

More than 1.7 Billion People to Shop on Social Media by 2028, 300 Million more than this Year

The Statista survey also showed the social commerce market will add hundreds of millions of users in the next four years. Last year, 1.38 billion internet users made at least one purchase on social media, 100 million more than in 2022.  Statistics show that 2024 saw roughly 80 million users in the market, with their total number rising to over 1.44 billion.

According to Statista, roughly 300 million people will flock to this type of shopping in the next four years, helping the global social commerce user base reach over 1.7 billion by 2028.