Social Media Shopping Statistics

Last updated: June 10, 2026

Highlights. American shoppers will spend $104.6 billion on products from social media platforms this year; by 2030, they’ll spend $160 billion. 

  • Global shoppers will spend $1.05 trillion on social media commerce in 2026; projections indicate the market will be worth over $1.7 trillion in 2030.
  • 82% of social media users worldwide research or discover new products on their social accounts.
  • 35.9% of American online consumers (108.5 million) are projected to shop on social media in 2026.

Grouped Bar Chart: Social Media Retail Spending Worldwide in billions from 2021 ($467) and 2024 ($998) with projections to 2030 ($1,641) according to Statista & eMarketer

Social Media Shopping Revenue

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

  • Global shoppers spent $885.8 billion on social media commerce in 2025, up 12.3% year-over-year (YoY).
  • Projections indicate that social media shopping revenue will grow twice as fast  as all online shopping retail sales through 2030.
  • Global social media retail revenue will have a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 14.0% from 2025 to 2030.
  • Social media commerce represents at least 6.6% of e-commerce sales in the United States.
  • U.S. social e-commerce sales have a projected 8.69% CAGR from 2025 to 2030.
  • In the United States, social commerce represents 7.91% of e-commerce.
  • Social commerce represents 1.39% of retail sales in the U.S.
  • Compared to mobile commerce, global social commerce is worth 67.3% less in revenue.

Bar Graph: U.S. Social Media Retail Spending in billions from 2021 ($33.7) to 2023 ($75.6) with projections to 2030 ($160.0) according to Statista

Social Media Consumer Statistics

By 2030, social commerce will have an online consumer penetration rate of over 36% among Americans.

  • The number of Americans shopping on social media increased 3.67% from 2024 to 2025.
  • 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. 
  • 41.3% of U.S. social media users visit social platforms to learn about brands or view their content.
  • 57.2% of internet users in the U.S. research brands or products they are considering buying on social media.

Bar Graph: U.S. Social Media Shoppers in millions by consumers who have made a purchase over social media from 2023 (95.7) to 2024 (100.7) with projections to 2030 (124.9) according to Statista

Social Media Consumer Demographics

U.S. consumers aged 18 to 34 years old are the most likely to shop on social media.

  • 51.8% of social media users aged 14 years or older also shop on social media.
  • 53% of 18- to 26-year-olds have made a purchase via social media.
  • Over 33% of U.S consumers aged 18 to 34 years old purchase products on social media.
  • 23% of consumers aged 35 to 54 years old purchase products on social media.
  • 13% of consumers aged 55 to 65 make purchases on social media.

Bar Graph: Digital Buyer Use of Social Media Platforms by social media shoppers who made a purchase on the platform once in the past 6 months including Facebook (46%), TikTok (26%), Instagram (21%), Pinterest (16%), Snapchat (6%), WhatsApp (5%), and Other (29%) according to Statista

Global Social Commerce Statistics

31.0% of consumers worldwide shop on social media. 

  • Millennials (born 1981-1996) make up the largest portion of social media shoppers globally at 33%.
  • Generation Z (born 1997-2012) represents the second-largest share of the social commerce market at 29%. 
  • 28% of social media shoppers are Generation X (born 1965-1980).
  • 10% of the social media retail consumer market is Baby Boomers (born 1946-1964).
  • 27.3% of social media users worldwide use social media platforms to find products to purchase. 
  • 50.4% of social media users use social platforms to learn about brands or view their content. 
  • 72.3% of internet users use social media to research brands and products they are interested in buying. 
  • 22.9% of global internet users follow a brand on a social media platform monthly. 
  • 30.4% of internet users discover new products or services through social media advertisements.

Bar Graph: Social Consumers Following Influencers including content creators by user age; 18-29 years (72%), 30-49 years (44%), 50-64 years(26%), and 65+ years (12%) according to Pew Research Center

Social Media Shopping Platform Statistics

Facebook is the most popular platform for social media commerce among consumers over 35 years old.

  • Digital shoppers are 76.9% more likely to buy on Facebook than they are on TikTok, which is the second-most popular platform for social media commerce.
  • In an average month, up to 491 million or 16% of online shoppers buy something on Facebook Marketplace.
  • Over 2.10 billion or 70% of active users shop on Instagram.
  • 62.8% of Instagram users worldwide use the platform to follow brands or research products. 
  • 53.0% of Facebook users and 56.2% of TikTok users follow brands or research products on their respective platforms.
  • 36.1% of users follow or research brands and products on Pinterest; 38.1% of users of X (formerly Twitter) use the platform for shopping research.

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. eMarketer, Insider Intelligence
  5. U.S. Census Bureau, Retail Monthly Trade
  6. Pew Research Center, E-Commerce: For Shopping
  7. HubSpot, Instagram Engagement Report
  8. DataReportal, Digital 2026
  9. Hostinger, Tutorials