Social Commerce Statistics 2026: Sales, Platforms, Buyers
Social commerce stats for 2026 from primary sources: sales forecasts, the top platforms by sales, TikTok Shop figures, who buys on social and why trust holds them back.
Social commerce is an estimated 15.2% of all online sales in 2026, about $586 billion worldwide, and US social commerce sales are forecast to pass $100 billion this year with TikTok Shop alone above $20 billion. The behaviour is already mainstream: 76% of social media users say social content influenced a purchase in the past six months, 31% buy directly through social platforms, and the share who never shop on social fell from 55% in 2021 to 24% in 2024. Every figure on this page comes from a research publisher, an analyst’s published forecast, a platform’s own newsroom or investor filing, or a survey with a stated sample, with the date and a link to the source, and nothing has been rounded up. Keepp is a free page behind the link in every social profile where a visitor can buy, book or ask without leaving, with the money landing in the seller’s own Stripe account.
Key takeaways
- Social commerce is 15.2% of online sales in 2026, about $586 billion (Statista). Accenture forecast $1.2 trillion by 2025 back in 2022; the realised figure is lower, and the trend is the same.
- US social commerce sales: over $87 billion in 2025, over $100 billion in 2026, nearly $119 billion in 2027 (eMarketer). TikTok Shop is nearly 20% of it and heading past $20 billion in 2026.
- Discovery has moved: social media ties with physical stores as the top place consumers find gifts (46%), and is first for Gen Z (54%). Gen Z finds products on Instagram (69%), YouTube (62%) and TikTok (50%).
- Buying follows: 76% say social content influenced a purchase, 39% bought on an influencer’s recommendation, 35% bought through a live stream, and 57% are open to buying inside a social app.
- Trust is the barrier: half of social media users worry a social purchase will not be protected or refunded (Accenture), which is the case for a page the seller controls.
How big is social commerce?
Sales through social networks accounted for an estimated 15.2% of total online sales in 2026, and global revenues generated through social media platforms were forecast to reach nearly $586 billion (Statista, last updated 25 March 2026). In China, Thailand, Peru, Colombia and India, approximately nine out of ten internet users made purchases through social networks in 2024 (same page).
Accenture forecast in January 2022 that the $492 billion global social commerce industry would grow three times as fast as traditional e-commerce to $1.2 trillion by 2025, with Gen Z and Millennials accounting for 62% of spend, and clothing (18%), consumer electronics (13%) and home decor (7%) the largest categories (Accenture, survey of 10,053 social media users in China, India, Brazil, the US and the UK, August to September 2021). It was a forecast, and the 2026 estimates above show the market came in below it.
US social commerce is expected to surpass $87 billion in 2025, exceed $100 billion in 2026 and reach nearly $119 billion in 2027, and more than half of US online shoppers will have made a purchase through a social platform by 2028 (eMarketer, December 2025, as reported by Retail Dive, 18 December 2025).
There were 5.66 billion social media user identities in October 2025, 68.7% of the world’s population (DataReportal, Digital 2026).
Top social media platforms for social commerce by sales
TikTok Shop is the largest social commerce platform by sales in the US: nearly 20% of US social commerce in 2025, forecast to pass $20 billion in 2026 (eMarketer, via Retail Dive). It is the only one of the big platforms with a published sales figure. YouTube and Pinterest report growth and users instead of sales, and Facebook and Instagram moved their Shops to the seller’s own website checkout in 2025, so those sales are counted on sellers’ sites, not in the apps (what happened to Facebook and Instagram Shops).
| Platform | Sales, as published | Other published figure | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| TikTok Shop | Nearly 20% of US social commerce in 2025; over $20 billion forecast for 2026 | Over $500 million over the 2025 Black Friday weekend | eMarketer via Retail Dive; TikTok Newsroom |
| YouTube Shopping | Not published as a total | Gross merchandise volume up five times in a year | YouTube, September 2025 |
| Not published as a total | 640 million monthly users, half of them Gen Z | Pinterest Q2 2026 results; Pinterest Business | |
| Not published as a total | Top platform for Gen Z product discovery (69%) | Bazaarvoice, November 2024 | |
| Not published as a total | Top platform for Millennial product discovery (66%) | Bazaarvoice, November 2024 |
What the platforms report
TikTok Shop statistics
TikTok Shop made up nearly 20% of US social commerce in 2025, and its sales are forecast to exceed $20 billion in 2026 and $30 billion in 2028 (eMarketer, via Retail Dive, December 2025).
TikTok Shop had 50% more US shoppers in its 2025 Black Friday campaign than in 2024, with sales exceeding $500 million over the four-day weekend. Sellers hosting livestreams saw 84% sales growth, shoppers tuned into over 760,000 livestream sessions generating over 1.6 billion views, and creator affiliates posted nearly 10 million shoppable videos. 83% of TikTok Shop shoppers report discovering new products on the platform, according to GlobalData research TikTok cites (TikTok Newsroom, 3 December 2025).
YouTube Shopping statistics
YouTube Shopping’s gross merchandise volume grew five times year on year, with more than 500,000 creators enrolled globally as of July 2025 (YouTube, 16 September 2025).
Pinterest shopping statistics
Pinterest’s global monthly active users increased 11% year on year to 640 million (Pinterest, Q2 2026 results, 4 August 2026). 80% of weekly Pinners say they feel inspired by the shopping experience, 96% of top searches are unbranded, Gen Z is 50% of the user base, and the main reason Gen Z uses Pinterest is to find information about products or brands (Pinterest Business, read October 2026).
Social media shopping statistics: how many people discover and buy?
76% of social media users say content on social has influenced a purchase in the past six months, rising to 90% of Gen Z and 84% of Millennials. 41% of Gen Z go to social first for search, against 32% for search engines (Sprout Social, 2,280 social media users in the US, UK and Australia, April to May 2025).
Social media has tied with physical stores as the leading destination for gift discovery among all consumers (46%) and is the clear number one for Gen Z (54%), and 57% of consumers are open to purchasing directly within social apps (Sprout Social, 2,286 social media users, August 2026, published 16 September 2026).
39% of consumers use social media for product discovery and research and 31% purchase directly through social platforms. In 2021, 55% said they never shopped on social media; by 2024 that had dropped to 24%. Gen Z discovers products most on Instagram (69%), YouTube (62%) and TikTok (50%), while Facebook (66%) is most popular for Millennials (Bazaarvoice, Shopper Experience Index, over 8,000 consumers in seven countries, September 2024, published 19 November 2024).
39% of shoppers made purchases based on influencer recommendations, an 18% jump in a year; 35% bought through live streams, up 22%; 34% bought items they saw trending on TikTok and Instagram; and 69% make purchases while multitasking on TikTok, Netflix or YouTube (Salsify, 2025 Consumer Research Report, 1,910 online shoppers in the US and UK, October 2024, published 23 January 2025).
Social media ads are the number one source of brand discovery for internet users aged 16 to 34, and 29.7% of all adult internet users discover brands through them, up from 26.6% in Q3 2022 (DataReportal, Digital 2025, GWI data, 5 February 2025). Half of adult social media users visit social platforms to learn more about brands (DataReportal, Digital 2025).
What stops people buying on social
Trust is the biggest barrier to adoption, as it was for e-commerce at its beginning: half of surveyed social media users are concerned that social commerce purchases will not be protected or refunded properly (Accenture, January 2022).
The same Accenture study and the Sprout Social figure that 57% are open to buying in-app leave a gap of about four in ten consumers who will discover on social but want to buy somewhere they trust. That somewhere is the page behind the profile link.
What the numbers mean for a seller
Discovery has moved onto social feeds for good; the purchase has only partly followed, and trust is the reason. The seller who wins both is the one whose profile link opens a page that looks like theirs, shows the product with a price and a button, takes the payment or the booking on the spot, and makes it obvious who they are buying from.
That is what a Keepp page is. It is the free link in bio for every platform in this article, and on the same page a seller lists products as cards with pictures and prices, sells with Stripe checkout with the money landing in their own Stripe account, takes bookings, collects enquiries with a form and answers pre-sale questions in a chat. Every product has its own short link and QR code, so a post, a Pin or a video can open the one thing it shows. Sellers find distribution on their own social media and every product is a shareable link cover the setup.
How this page was compiled
Every statistic links to the page it came from: a research publisher (Statista, DataReportal with GWI), a consultancy’s own newsroom (Accenture), a platform’s newsroom or investor filing (TikTok, YouTube, Pinterest on sec.gov), or a survey with its sample stated (Sprout Social, Bazaarvoice, Salsify). eMarketer’s forecasts are behind a paywall, so they are quoted from Retail Dive’s report of them with eMarketer named. Forecasts are marked as forecasts with the year they were made. Last checked: 21 October 2026.
Common questions
How big is social commerce in 2026? About 15.2% of all online sales, roughly $586 billion worldwide (Statista). US sales are forecast to pass $100 billion in 2026 (eMarketer).
What are the top social media platforms for social commerce by sales volume? In the US, TikTok Shop, at nearly 20% of social commerce in 2025 and forecast above $20 billion in 2026. It is the only big platform that publishes a sales figure. YouTube Shopping grew five times in a year, Pinterest has 640 million monthly users, half of them Gen Z, and Instagram and Facebook lead product discovery for Gen Z and Millennials.
What share of people buy on social media? 31% buy directly through social platforms and 76% say social content influenced a purchase in the past six months. Only 24% never shop on social, down from 55% in 2021.
Why don’t more people buy inside social apps? Trust. Half of social media users worry a social purchase will not be protected or refunded (Accenture), and 57% say they are open to buying in-app, which leaves four in ten who want to buy on a page they recognise.
Where does Gen Z discover products? Instagram (69%), YouTube (62%) and TikTok (50%), and social is their number one place to discover gifts (54%).
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