From Scroll to Shop

Social media is no longer only a place where organisations compete for attention. It is increasingly becoming a commercial infrastructure where discovery, persuasion and purchase take place within the same environment. This matters for managers, entrepreneurs and policy-makers because it changes the organisational role of social media. It is no longer only a branding, communication or engagement channel. It is becoming a transaction environment that can shape customer journeys, generate sales and influence how firms compete.

TikTok is one of the clearest examples of this development. Through TikTok Shop, the platform combines shoppable videos, live selling and an in-app marketplace so that users can move from product discovery to purchase without leaving the app. YouTube Shopping also enables eligible creators to tag products in videos, Shorts and live streams, allowing viewers to shop while they watch.

The business case is therefore not simply about new platform features. It is about how organisations must adapt when content, creators, merchandising and conversion become connected. A social media post, short-form video or live stream can now entertain, build trust, demonstrate a product and support a purchase. This creates new opportunities, but it also requires organisations to rethink their capabilities, structures and decision-making.

This business case is based on a platform ecosystem analysis of publicly available material from TikTok and YouTube. The analysis examined how these platforms present shopping within their wider content ecosystems, including the relationship between product discovery, creator-led influence, in-app or platform-enabled purchasing, and merchant participation. This approach is useful because it shows how major platforms are repositioning shopping as part of the user experience rather than as an external add-on.

TikTok presents TikTok Shop as an environment where users discover products through shoppable videos, live streams and an in-app marketplace before purchasing in the app. YouTube Shopping connects creator-led content with product tagging and merchant infrastructure, enabling viewers to move from watching to shopping more directly.

Strategically, these developments show that social platforms are expanding their role in the digital value chain. They are no longer only intermediaries for attention or advertising. They are becoming commercial ecosystems where product discovery, influence, customer education and purchasing activity are brought closer together. This has important implications for organisations.

Social media activity can no longer be managed separately from e-commerce, product planning, customer service and data analysis.

For example, a small beauty brand using TikTok Shop may need to plan content around stock availability, creator partnerships, customer questions and fulfilment capacity. A retailer using YouTube Shopping may need closer alignment between video content, product information, pricing and website conversion. In both cases, social commerce requires coordination across functions rather than isolated social media activity. The challenge is no longer simply producing engaging content, but coordinating the commercial systems, people and processes that sit behind it.

The shift towards marketplace-style social media is driven by convenience, ubiquity, creator influence and platform strategy. Traditional online buying often involves multiple steps: seeing a product on one platform, searching for it elsewhere and completing the purchase on another site. Social commerce reduces this friction by bringing discovery and purchase closer together. This can improve conversion, but it also raises expectations. Customers may expect faster answers, clearer product information, visible reviews and a smoother purchase journey.

Organisations are therefore having to build new capabilities. First, they need stronger integration between marketing and sales. Social content must be designed not only for reach, but also for product discovery and purchase intention. Second, they need creator management skills. Creator partnerships cannot be treated only as promotional activity; they become part of the commercial journey and must be aligned with brand values, product accuracy and consumer trust. Third, firms need social merchandising capability. Products must be presented in ways that work within short-form video, live selling and platform-native formats. Fourth, organisations need better platform analytics. They must understand not only likes and views, but also click-throughs, conversion, basket behaviour and customer feedback.

This also creates organisational challenges. Teams may be unclear whether social commerce belongs to marketing, e-commerce, sales or operations. Smaller firms may gain access to new audiences but struggle with fulfilment if demand increases quickly after viral content. Larger organisations may have more resources but face slower internal decision-making. Policy-makers also need to consider how commercial content is disclosed, how consumers understand sponsored recommendations and how digital literacy keeps pace with increasingly seamless shopping environments.

Managers should stop treating social media simply as a communications channel. It is increasingly becoming a marketplace environment. This means that strategy must connect content, creators, merchandising, data and conversion. Organisations should review whether their current social media activity is designed only for visibility and engagement, or whether it supports the full journey from discovery to purchase.

The key lesson is that social commerce is not only a marketing trend. It is an organisational capability. Firms need clearer ownership, stronger cross-functional working and better alignment between platform activity and operational delivery. Entrepreneurs can use these ecosystems to reach customers more directly, but they must also prepare for the practical demands of trust, fulfilment and customer service. The organisations that benefit most will be those that respond early to platform commerce, rather than treating it as an add-on to existing digital strategy.

Social commerce is changing what organisations need from social media. Managers should connect social content with sales, operations and customer experience rather than managing these areas separately. Creator partnerships should be treated as part of the commercial journey, not simply as brand promotion. Firms also need to build capability in social merchandising, platform analytics and customer trust. For policy-makers, the growth of platform-based commerce raises important questions about transparency, disclosure and digital literacy. The central message is clear: as social platforms become marketplace ecosystems, organisations must adapt their structures and capabilities accordingly.

Google Merchant Center (n.d.) About the YouTube Shopping affiliate programme.

TikTok (n.d.) TikTok Shop: The future of shopping fueled by discovery e-commerce.

Keywords: Strategy, Platforms, Social Commerce

Share

Dr Farlon J. Rahaman is a Senior Lecturer in Digital Business at Westminster Business School, University of Westminster. Her work draws on her disciplinary specialism in digital business and centres on teaching and learning, pedagogy, student engagement, authentic assessment, and the practical use of generative AI in education. She is particularly interested in designing learning experiences that better prepare students for contemporary organisational and professional contexts.