Social media has quietly become the biggest storefront window in the world, even if it is not closing many sales at the register. A new report from global commerce technology company ESW, based on interviews with 23,000 shoppers across 18 markets, found that social platforms are now the number one channel where consumers discover new products worldwide. But when it is time to actually pull out a card and pay, most of those same shoppers head somewhere else entirely.
That gap between influence and purchase is the story marketers need to pay attention to right now. It is not that social commerce is failing. It is that the customer journey has become fragmented in a very specific, very measurable way, and brands that ignore it are leaving money on the table.
Key Update
According to ESW's research, about half of consumers now discover new products on social media, more than the 38% who find items through search engines and the 36% who still stumble onto products in physical stores. Among Generation Z shoppers, that discovery rate jumps to roughly three-quarters, underlining just how dominant platforms like Instagram, TikTok and Pinterest have become as the entry point of the modern shopping journey.
Here is the twist. While 62% of consumers say they are influenced by what they see on social platforms, only 6% say they actually prefer to complete a purchase there. Nearly a third of shoppers say they would rather buy directly from a brand or retailer's own website. In the United States specifically, 37% prefer purchasing on brand websites, and that number climbs to 52% among baby boomers.
Trust is the operative word throughout the report. In the U.S., only about a quarter of consumers say they trust the checkout experience on social platforms. ESW CEO Eric Eichmann summed it up plainly in a statement accompanying the findings: consumers are comfortable using new tools for discovery and even comparison, with nearly half saying they are fine using AI for price comparison, but that comfort erodes fast as the process moves closer to checkout and payment.
Why It Matters
If you run paid social, manage a brand's organic content calendar or advise clients on social media marketing strategy, this data should reshape how you think about what "success" looks like on each platform. A high engagement rate or a spike in link clicks from an Instagram post does not necessarily mean a sale is imminent. It means you have done your job at the top of the funnel, and now the customer is about to go somewhere else to actually buy.
This matters enormously for how budgets get justified internally. If a marketing team is measuring social media ROI purely on last-click conversions happening inside the app, they are almost certainly undercounting the channel's real value. Social is doing discovery and consideration work that shows up later, on a different platform, sometimes under a different attribution model entirely, or with no attribution at all.
It also matters for anyone building a social commerce advertising strategy. Native checkout features on Instagram, TikTok Shop and Facebook Marketplace have gotten a lot of investment and attention over the past couple of years, and rightly so given how much time consumers spend in these apps. But this report is a reminder that convenience alone is not enough to overcome a trust deficit. Shoppers will happily scroll, tap "learn more" and add something to a wishlist inside an app, and then finish the transaction somewhere they feel safer.
Important Takeaways
- Social platforms are now the leading discovery channel globally, ahead of search engines and physical retail, with especially strong pull among Gen Z shoppers.
- Despite that influence, only a small fraction of consumers, 6% according to ESW, actually prefer to complete their purchase on a social platform.
- Roughly a third of shoppers, and closer to half of U.S. baby boomers, still prefer buying directly on a brand or retailer's website.
- Checkout trust is the main barrier. Only about a quarter of U.S. consumers say they trust the payment experience on social platforms.
- The customer journey is fragmented by design now: discovery on social, validation on a review site or AI tool, and purchase somewhere the shopper already trusts.
- Nearly half of consumers are comfortable using AI tools for price comparison, showing that trust issues are specific to payment and checkout, not research in general.
Expert Analysis
What strikes me most about this data is that it confirms something a lot of us managing social accounts have suspected anecdotally for a while: the funnel isn't linear anymore, and pretending it is costs brands real money and real insight. A shopper discovering your product on TikTok, then Googling your brand name, then reading three reviews on a completely unrelated site, then finally buying from your own Shopify store a week later, is not an edge case. Based on this report, that is closer to the norm.
The trust gap around checkout on social platforms is not really about the platforms being unsafe. Instagram and TikTok both have functional payment infrastructure at this point. It is more about habit and perceived risk. Consumers have spent two decades building trust in familiar retail environments, whether that is Amazon, a brand's own site, or a physical store. Social platforms are relatively new to the checkout game, and old habits do not disappear just because a "Buy Now" button gets added to a post.
There is also a generational story hiding inside these numbers that deserves more attention. Baby boomers overwhelmingly preferring brand websites is not surprising, but the fact that even Gen Z, the generation most native to social shopping, still shows meaningful hesitation at checkout tells you this is not purely a habit or age issue. It is a design and confidence issue that platforms and brands both need to solve together.
For social media marketing strategy specifically, this means the smartest brands are going to stop treating social platforms and owned properties as competitors for the same conversion, and start treating them as two stages of the same journey. Social does the emotional heavy lifting. Owned channels close the deal.
Practical Tips
- Track assisted conversions, not just last-click sales, so social gets credit for the discovery and consideration work it is actually doing.
- Make sure your bio links, product tags and captions consistently point back to a trusted, well-optimized website checkout, rather than relying solely on in-app purchase flows.
- Use social content to answer the objections that stall a purchase later, such as shipping costs, return policy and sizing, since shoppers often research these before they leave the app.
- Build a visible trust layer on your own site, including reviews, security badges and clear pricing, since that is where the ESW data shows hesitant shoppers actually convert.
- If you do use native social commerce checkout, keep the experience as close as possible to what shoppers expect from a trusted retailer, including transparent pricing and familiar payment options.
- Segment your reporting by age group where possible, since baby boomers and Gen Z are clearly behaving differently at the point of purchase.
Final Thoughts
According to Social Media Today's coverage of the ESW findings, the fragmented commerce journey is not a problem brands can engineer away with a single new feature or checkout button. It is a trust problem, and trust gets built slowly, through consistent, familiar buying experiences. Social platforms have won the discovery battle decisively. The brands that win the sale will be the ones that stop expecting social to do double duty as both a discovery engine and a checkout counter, and instead build a smooth, trustworthy handoff between the two.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why do consumers discover products on social media but buy elsewhere?
According to ESW's research, the main reason is trust. Consumers are comfortable browsing, comparing and even being influenced by what they see on social platforms, but many still feel unsure about completing a payment there, preferring the familiarity of a brand website or established retailer instead.
What percentage of consumers actually buy directly on social media?
ESW found that only about 6% of consumers prefer to complete a purchase directly on a social platform, even though 62% say they are influenced by what they see there.
Does this mean brands should stop investing in social commerce features?
No. Social commerce tools still play an important role in discovery and consideration. The data simply suggests brands should not expect native checkout alone to drive most conversions, and should invest just as much in a trustworthy off-platform purchase experience.
Which age group is most likely to buy directly on social media?
The ESW report indicates Generation Z relies most heavily on social media for product discovery, though even within that group, a meaningful share of purchases still happen off-platform. Baby boomers show the strongest preference for buying on brand websites, at 52% in the U.S.
How can brands build more trust in their social commerce checkout experience?
ESW suggests clear pricing, familiar payment options and a buying environment that feels secure are key factors. Brands can also reinforce trust by maintaining consistency between what is promised in social content and what shoppers experience at checkout, whether that happens in-app or on an owned website.