
People often underestimate Snapchat as a social network. Unfairly so – given its engaged user community, Snapchat is a promising social commerce channel for retailers.
Snapchat is the odd one out among the social media channels: unlike Facebook, Instagram and YouTube, there is a greater emphasis on creating rather than consuming content on Snapchat. Accordingly, Snapchat users are creative and expressive, and the platform achieves exceptionally high engagement rates. With these attributes, Snapchat draws more fans than many people think.
Globally, Snapchat registered 293 million daily active users in the second quarter of 2021. With 15 million users in Germany (as of January 2021), Snapchat is the country’s third most popular social network after Facebook and Instagram. What’s more, advertisers reach over 80 percent of 13- to 24-year-olds on the platform.
Snapchat also recently added new social commerce features, making the platform interesting for retailers from various sectors, including the paper, office supply and stationery industry.
Snapchat offers companies an exciting target market. The majority of users are aged 13 to 34 – the consumer group with the greatest future purchasing power. Unlike most other social platforms, Snapchat does not automatically deliver content outside of the advertising formats. This means that interested users have to actively search for other Snapchat profiles in order to view the content there. Accordingly, a user that looks at a company profile on Snapchat has a genuine interest in that area. For retailers on Snapchat, this represents a unique opportunity to showcase themselves and their products.
Tips for retailers: successful selling on Snapchat
As with other social networks, the better you understand the Snapchat platform, the more successful you will be. Here are some helpful tips.
· More than any other platform, Snapchat is synonymous with custom, user-generated content. Retailers should use this to better reach fans as well as present their own brand and make it recognizable.
· Snapchat posts should be made publicly visible in order to reach as many people as possible.
· Visitors to Snapchat business profiles are truly interested in the respective company. Retailers should use this fact to present new products or show what goes on behind the scenes.
Snapchat offers a number of social commerce features that retailers can use to sell products directly.
Through Snapchat’s Deep Linking feature, interested users that swipe up on a profile’s content can be redirected to a product landing page where they can purchase a product directly.
By introducing augmented reality (AR) as a social commerce feature in 2020, Snapchat ventured further than many other social networks. Thanks to immersive 3D effects, potential customers can now “try on” products. This virtual fitting is linked with the “shop now” feature. If a product proves a winner, it can be purchased immediately. US department store chain Kohl’s and luxury brand Gucci were some of the first brands to try out this feature.
Many sectors have already discovered the AR feature for themselves. One possible usage for the stationery industry is the placement of products virtually in the potential customer’s office via AR. Retailers have a greater chance of making a sale when their offerings are presented in this visually appealing way using Snapchat’s AR feature.
What’s more, AR effects are very popular among Snapchat users and therefore also frequently shared. This makes them a really effective means of reaching the target group. Although the AR technology has strong visual appeal, it does not require any IT skills or major investment on the part of retailers, making Snapchat attractive for small and medium-sized retailers as well.
No matter their size, retailers should not underestimate Snapchat as a social commerce platform. Snapchat offers many creative product placement opportunities for the stationery industry in particular. With minimal effort, retailers can build a genuine bond with their target group and not only market their products but also sell them directly.
About the author:
BASIC thinking is an online magazine and is one of the widest reaching tech platforms in German-speaking countries. The magazine reports about social media, marketing, and business topics daily. This article was written by Christina Widner from BASIC thinking GmbH.