Social commerce market seen reaching $1.6 trillion by 2030

The Business Research Company says the global social commerce market is on track to top $1.6 trillion by 2030, driven by mobile shopping, influencer content and AI-powered product discovery. Asia-Pacific and the U.S. are expected to remain the biggest markets, while apparel leads product categories.

Why it matters: - Social commerce is moving from a niche channel to a major retail growth engine as shopping, content and payments merge inside social apps. - The market’s size, regional mix and category winners point to where platform investment, ad spend and seller strategies are likely to concentrate through 2030.

What happened: - The Business Research Company published its Social Commerce Market Report 2026 on October 13, 2026. - The report says the global social commerce market is expected to reach $1,606 billion by 2030. - The market is projected to grow at a 13% CAGR through 2030. - The wider media sector is forecast to reach $3,709 billion by 2030, with social commerce making up close to 43% of that total. - The report says social commerce is rapidly evolving as digital platforms, social media companies and e-commerce providers compete for consumer attention. - The report highlights livestream shopping, influencer marketing, personalized recommendations and integrated payment systems as core growth tools. - Request a free sample of the report. - Access the detailed market report.

The details: - Apparel is projected to be the largest product category, with a 33% share of the market by 2030 and value of $533 billion. - The report ties apparel’s lead to fashion trends on social platforms, short-form video discovery, virtual try-ons and brand-creator collaborations. - Other product categories include personal and beauty care, accessories, home products, health supplements, food and beverages, and other items. - The market is segmented by device use across laptops and PCs, mobile devices and others. - Business models span B2C, B2B and C2C channels. - End users are grouped as individual consumers and commercial buyers. - Asia-Pacific is expected to remain the largest regional market by 2030 at $602 billion, up from $339 billion in 2025. - Asia-Pacific is forecast to grow at a 12% CAGR, supported by smartphone adoption, livestream shopping, influencer promotions, embedded digital payments and personalized shopping experiences. - The United States is projected to be the top country market by 2030 at $422 billion, up from $241 billion in 2025. - The U.S. market is expected to grow at a 12% CAGR, driven by influencer-led purchasing, social media ad investment, in-app checkout demand and AI-driven recommendations. - Amazon.com Inc. was the top global seller in social commerce in 2025 with a 6% market share. - Amazon’s social commerce offerings include Amazon Live and social shopping features for livestream shopping, influencer content, product discovery and integrated purchasing. - The top 10 companies accounted for 21% of total revenue in 2025, showing a moderately fragmented market. - The leading companies by 2025 revenue share were Amazon.com Inc. (6%), Alibaba Group Holding Limited (4%), Meta Platforms, Inc. (3%), ByteDance Ltd. (3%), Microsoft Corporation (2%), Tencent Holdings Limited (1%), PDD Holdings Inc. (1%), Shopify Inc. (1%), YouTube LLC (1%) and PayPal Holdings Inc. (1%). - The report says social media and mobile-first shopping habits will add an estimated 1.8% to annual market growth. - Influencer marketing and user-generated content are expected to contribute roughly 1.5% to yearly expansion. - AI-driven personalization and integrated shopping features are expected to contribute near 1.3% to annual growth. - In June 2026, Pinterest rolled out AI-powered shopping features including Business Assistant, Pinterest Model Context Protocol and Ask Pinterest. - The report says these tools are designed to improve recommendations, visual discovery, advertising results and commerce interactions. - The 2026 report adds market attractiveness scoring, TAM analysis, company scoring matrix graphics, Excel-based forecasting dashboards, market hotspot infographics, key technology analysis and updated graphics and tables.

Between the lines: - The report points to a market where discovery and conversion are collapsing into the same experience, which favors platforms that control both audience attention and checkout. - The biggest advantage appears to come from ecosystems that combine creators, payments, recommendations and mobile shopping in one flow. - Market concentration remains limited, so the category still leaves room for platform competition and feature-led share gains.

What's next: - Growth is likely to stay centered on apparel, beauty, accessories and other visually driven categories that benefit from social discovery. - More platforms are likely to lean harder into AI personalization, live commerce and embedded payments as they try to raise conversion rates. - Regional competition should remain strongest in Asia-Pacific and the U.S., where smartphones, creator ecosystems and in-app buying are already deeply embedded.

The bottom line: - Social commerce is shifting from experimentation to scale, and the winners will be the platforms that make discovery, trust and payment feel seamless.