Highlights. Global shoppers will spend $1.698 trillion on social media commerce in 2024; projections indicate the market will be worth over $6 trillion in 2029.

  • 110.4 million or 40.9% of American online consumers shop on social media in 2024.
  • In the United States, social media commerce is worth $76.6 billion, projections indicate that social media commerce will exceed $175 billion in 2029
  • 51.3% of social media users aged 14 years or older also shop on social media.
  • 55% of 18- to 24-year-olds have made a purchase via social media.
  • Social media commerce represents at least 10% of e-commerce sales.

Grouped Bar Chart: Social Media Retail Spending Worldwide in billions from 2021 ($492) and 2022 ($992) with projections to 2028 ($4,958) according to Statista

Social Media Shopping Financial Statistics

Projections indicate that social media will become a more lucrative means of commerce in years to come.

  • Global shoppers spent $1.298 billion on social media commerce in 2023, up 30.8% year-over-year (YoY)
  • Projections indicate that global social media retail revenue will have a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 30.8% from 2024 to 2029.
  • U.S. social e-commerce sales have a projected 18.2% CAGR from 2024 to 2029.
  • In the United States, social commerce represents 5.16% of e-commerce.
  • Compared to mobile commerce, global social commerce is worth 32.7% less in revenue.
  • Social commerce represents 0.90% of retail sales in the U.S.

Bar Graph: U.S. Social Media Retail Spending in billions from 2022 ($51.84) to 2028 ($145.23) according to Statista

Social Media Consumer Statistics

Consumers aged 18 to 34 years old are most likely to shop on social media.

  • Shopping among all social media users over the age of 14 years increased 3.37% YoY.
  • The number of Americans shopping on social media increased 4.09% from 2022 to 2023.
  • 40% of U.S. digital consumers follow an influencer or content creator on social media.
  • 30% of digital consumers have purchased an item in response to an influencer or creator’s post.
  • 12% of holiday shoppers in the U.S. made a purchase on social media over the 2023 shopping season. 

Bar Graph: Social Consumers Following Influencers including content creators, by user age, according to Pew Research Center

Social Media Shopping Platform Statistics

Facebook is the most popular platform for social media commerce among all age groups.

  • Digital shoppers are 74.6% more likely to buy on Facebook than they are on Instagram, which is the second-most popular platform for social media commerce.
  • In an average month, up to 1.23 billion or 40% of online shoppers buy something on Facebook Marketplace.
  • Over 1.72 billion or 70% of active users shop on Instagram.

Bar Graph: Digital Buyer Use of Social Media Platforms as in the percentage who made a purcahse on a platform once in 30 days according to Statista

These data and insights were compiled by the Capital One Shopping team based on publicly available data.

Sources

  1. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Meta Platforms, Inc.
  2. Statista
  3. Forbes
  4. Insider Intelligence
  5. U.S. Census Bureau, Retail Monthly Trade
  6. Pew Research Center, E-Commerce: For Shopping
  7. Products Up, Social Commerce on Instagram
  8. SendPulse, What is Instagram eCommerce: Complete Guide