• by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_research, December 4, 2013

According to the Social Media Shopping Infographic, from a new study by RichRelevance, the data from nearly seven hundred million online shopping sessions show how social channels are impacting ecommerce and how they stack up against each other in the lead up to the 2013 Holiday Shopping Season.

SocialMedia Shopping Trends (November, 2013)
Shopping	Facebook	Polyvore	Pinterest	Twitter
Total shopping sessions	4.31 Mil	1.41 Mil	1.1 Mil	0.32 Mil
Avg. share of traffic	60%	20%	15%	5%
Avg. conversion rate	2.69%	1.17	0.96%	0.49%
Avg. order value per session	$199.16	$393.34	$92.77	$58.02
Total sales from social sessions	$10.7 Mil	$6.34 Mil	$2.1 Mil	$0.93 Mil
Source: RichRelevance, November  2013

Although social channels account for less than one percent of total online shopping sessions, some trends remain and others have emerged. Of all social sites, Facebook produces more than three times the number of sessions and 10 times the number of orders than the next most prolific social site, Polyvore. Pinterest has been gaining ground on Facebook with 25% of social shopping sessions (up 14% from last year) and now generates more than double the average order value (AOV) of Facebook. Twitter continues to produce the smallest numbers across the board. Other key findings include:

Facebook Dominates Social Shopping Sessions

• Of all social sites, Facebook produces more than 3 times the number of sessions (4.31M) than the next social network (Polyvore 1.41M sessions). It also drives the most traffic, accounting for 60% of social sessions
• While Facebook dominates, Pinterest has grown more than 10% in the last year and now accounts for 1.1M sessions
• Twitter delivers the least amount of social shopping sessions (322K), and accounts for only 5% of traffic

Facebook Leads Conversion and Orders

• Facebook’s conversion rate (2.69%) is comparable to that of non-social shopping sessions, which is 2.98%.
• Moreover, Facebook generates more than seven times more orders than the next most successful social site (Polyvore)
• Polyvore, Pinterest and Twitter show conversion rates of 1.17%, .96% and .49%, respectively

Polyvore Drives Highest AOV(Polyvore is a community powered social commerce website. Members curate products into a shared product index and use them to create image collages called "Sets". Wikipedia)

• While Facebook saw the most sales during this period ($10.7M), Polyvore drove the highest AOV per session with consumers spending $383.34 per session
• Pinterest followed Polyvore in AOV with $199.16 per session, which was more than double Facebook ($92.27) and more than triple Twitter ($58.02).

David Selinger, CEO of RichRelevance, concludes that  “… While social shopping remains a small percentage of total online commerce… there are key trends that retailers can glean from consumer habits and preferences in these channels… key takeaway is that each social channel is unique… “

Diane Kegley, RichRelevance’s Chief Marketing Officer, adds “… Pinterest and Polyvore attract a different shopper… the user experience is predicated on highly visual, catalog-like sites… (and) Polyvore attracts an audience of predisposed shoppers… “

N.B. The study includes only browser-based shopping sessions and does not include shopping that may originate from mobile app versions of these platforms. Sessions are defined as Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, or Polyvore respectively, if the referrer for that session originated from that site

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