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Advertisers Move in on Social Commerce

I’ve been thinking about Atrinsic (the digital advertising and marketing services provider) and its recent purchase of Shopit, the social commerce company that lets buyers and sellers complete simple transactions on social networking sites.

Strategically, this purchase could be a smart move for Atrinsic, if brand storefronts in social networks such as the Alvenda powered 1-800-flowers take off as a new mode of online advertising that goes beyond brochureware to embrace DTC (direct to consumer) sales.

WPP, Omnicom, Interpublic and Publicis; cheque books at the ready…

Written by
Dr Paul Marsden
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11 comments
  • Shopit sitting inside a social feed is the point: the purchase happens where the photo already is. I split product shots into a grid so a carousel does not dump the whole catalog in one frame — ImageSplit runs locally, no upload. Advertisers moving in on social commerce only works if the images stay readable.

  • This is helpful. A tip for anyone reading: if you need to receivesms for sign-ups, smsverification worked well for me and you only pay when codes come through.

  • I think the Shopit acquisition makes sense in the broader shift from banner ads to transactable storefronts inside social feeds. The Alvenda-powered 1-800-Flowers example is a useful signal that direct-to-consumer sales could become the real metric of social advertising, not impressions. I wonder whether the big agency holding companies will partner with platforms like this or build equivalents in-house.

  • Good analysis. The wellbeing angle on synthetic media is underrated — I work on Voiceslab, a voice cloning tool, and the question of how people feel about hearing a familiar voice they know is synthetic is genuinely open. Thanks for the piece.

  • The post was ahead of its time in identifying the shift from display-style advertising to transactions inside social networks. Its focus on storefronts, direct-to-consumer sales, and agency groups remains useful when judging today’s social commerce.

  • The post feels notably prescient: moving from static banner advertising to purchases inside social feeds is exactly the shift that later storefront and creator-led commerce models made visible.

  • It is striking how clearly this short post anticipated the transition from attention-focused advertising to commerce embedded directly in social spaces. The focus on actual transactions, rather than impressions, still reads as useful.

  • Social-commerce ads freeze a headline into a flattened creative. Testing a new offer should not mean a designer cycle. I keep the approved visual and only swap the line of copy.

  • Social commerce posts skip the asset problem. A still that does not match the clip is a new product. I keep both in one history so the listing photo and the 5-second shot agree.

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Digital wellbeing covers the latest scientific research on the impact of digital technology on human wellbeing. Curated by psychologist Dr. Paul Marsden (@marsattacks). Sponsored by WPP agency SYZYGY.