As shopping on social media wanes, Facebook looks to change the trend

A new survey shows that consumers use retail and brand websites to shop more than on social media, but a new Facebook feature will make buying online easier.

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Ragan Insider Content

The trend of shopping through social media is slowing, according to a recent survey.

Digital marketing company Epsilon surveyed 2,800 American consumers during 2014’s fourth quarter and found that 62 percent of consumers use retailers’ websites to shop.

By contrast, only 14 percent of consumers made purchases based on a friend’s social media posts, with 13 percent shopping after a brand’s online post and 11 percent buying after seeing retailers’ social media posts. Social media shopping percentages remained the same or dropped slightly compared with last year’s study.

The study reported that printable coupons (55 percent), retailer emails (50 percent), search engines (47 percent), brand emails (36 percent), product reviews (32 percent), and mobile coupons (26 percent) all encourage consumers to shop more than social media platforms do.

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