Social Commerce in Singapore is changing a familiar online-shopping habit. Instead of discovering a product on social media, searching for it on Google, visiting a marketplace and buying it later, consumers can increasingly move from entertainment to product discovery and purchase within a much shorter journey.
A creator demonstrates a skincare product. A viewer checks the comments, taps a product link and completes a purchase. A livestream introduces a limited-time offer while hundreds of potential customers watch. In another case, a shopper may discover a brand on Instagram or TikTok but still complete the transaction through a marketplace or the brand’s website.
That last point matters.
Social commerce is growing, but social media is not replacing traditional e-commerce. Instead, the line between content, product discovery, recommendations and transactions is becoming less clear.
Current Singapore data makes the shift difficult for businesses to ignore.
DataReportal’s Digital 2026 report recorded 5.33 million social media user identities in Singapore in October 2025, equivalent to 90.6% of the population. It also estimated that 92.2% of Singapore’s internet users used at least one social platform. The report notes that these figures represent user identities rather than necessarily unique individuals, which is an important methodological distinction.
Meanwhile, Google, Temasek and Bain & Company’s e-Conomy SEA 2025 research found rapid growth in video commerce across the region and particularly strong activity in Singapore.
So what exactly is happening, and what does it mean for businesses?
What Is Social Commerce?
Social commerce refers to shopping activities that happen through social media platforms.
Traditional e-commerce usually separates marketing from the transaction. A customer might see an advertisement on Instagram but later visit a website or online marketplace to buy the product.
Social commerce reduces that distance.
Depending on the platform and available features, customers may be able to discover products, watch demonstrations, interact with creators, read comments, click product links and sometimes complete the transaction without leaving the social environment.
This creates a shopping experience built around three elements that conventional product pages often struggle to replicate: content, community and convenience.
It also explains why social commerce should not simply be treated as another advertising format. It can affect several stages of the customer journey at once.
Social Commerce in Singapore: Why It Is Growing
Several factors are pushing social commerce forward in Singapore.
First, the audience is already there. Singapore has high internet and social media adoption, which gives businesses a large digitally connected consumer base.
Second, shopping itself is becoming more video-driven.
Google, Temasek and Bain estimated that video commerce represented around 25% of Southeast Asia’s e-commerce GMV in 2025, up from less than 5% in 2022. Regional video-commerce GMV reached about US$46 billion, while transaction volume increased 50% year on year.
Singapore showed its own acceleration. The same report estimated that the number of sellers and stores participating in video commerce in Singapore increased 125% year on year to around 80,000, while transaction volume rose 30% to approximately 45 million transactions in 2025.
These numbers reveal something important about modern e-commerce behaviour. People do not always start shopping with a product search. Sometimes they start by watching.
A product appears naturally inside entertainment, an educational video, a review or a creator’s recommendation. Commerce then becomes part of the content rather than something that begins after the content ends.
Social Media Is Becoming a Discovery Engine
One of social commerce’s biggest strengths may actually come before checkout. Social platforms increasingly influence what consumers know exists.
Blackbox Research’s SensingSG Q1 2026 study, based on a nationally representative sample of 1,539 Singapore citizens and permanent residents, illustrates this point in the clothing category.
When respondents were asked where they first became aware of new clothing brands, Instagram accounted for 23%, TikTok 21%, Facebook 21% and YouTube 18%.
However, only 8% said their most recent clothing purchase was actually completed through social commerce. Physical stores accounted for 44%, marketplaces for 30% and brand websites or apps for 17%.
Even more revealing, 48% said social media helps them discover products but they usually buy somewhere else.
The findings are category-specific, so they should not be treated as representative of every retail sector. Nevertheless, they highlight an important distinction.
Social commerce should not be judged only by sales completed directly inside social platforms.
A TikTok video may create the initial demand, while Shopee, a Google search, the retailer’s website or even a physical store gets credit for the final transaction.
Consequently, businesses that measure social campaigns purely through last-click conversions may underestimate their role in generating demand.
Video Commerce Is Turning Entertainment Into Shopping
Short-form videos and livestreams make products easier to understand.
A static product image can show what an item looks like. A video can show how it moves, how it is used, what problem it solves and what another person thinks about it.
That changes the role of content.
Consider a beauty brand. Instead of publishing a polished product image, it can show a creator applying the product, comparing shades and answering questions in the comments.
A home appliance seller can demonstrate a product solving a real household problem.
A fashion retailer can show how the same item looks in different outfits rather than relying on catalogue photography.
TikTok’s own Singapore data illustrates how quickly this content-commerce model is expanding on its platform. In October 2025, TikTok reported that its number of affiliate creators in Singapore had more than doubled year on year. Affiliate creator livestreaming hours increased 1.7 times, while e-commerce short-video production rose 6.3 times over the preceding year. These figures come from TikTok itself, so they are best understood as platform-reported indicators rather than independent market measurements.
Still, the direction is clear. Content is increasingly becoming part of the storefront.
Younger Consumers Are Spending More Through Social Channels
Social commerce also differs considerably by generation.
Adyen’s 2026 Singapore Retail Report, based on a YouGov survey of 1,041 Singapore consumers and 304 senior retail employees, found that younger consumers spent more per social-commerce purchase.
Gen Z consumers reported spending an average of S$104 per purchase through social media shopping channels, while Millennials averaged S106.ThatcomparedwithS80 among Gen X and S$62 among Baby Boomers.
This does not mean businesses should immediately shift every marketing dollar toward younger shoppers.
Instead, it shows why channel strategy needs to match audience behaviour.
A brand targeting younger buyers may benefit heavily from short-form video, creators and social proof. A business targeting older customers may find that social media works better for discovery while the final transaction happens elsewhere.
The customer journey matters more than simply being present on every platform.
Creators Are Becoming Part of the Sales Infrastructure
Influencer marketing and social commerce overlap, but they are not exactly the same.
Traditional influencer campaigns often focused on awareness: a creator promoted a product, and the brand hoped followers remembered it later.
Social commerce makes creator activity easier to connect with transactions.
Affiliate links, product tagging, social storefronts and livestream shopping can connect creator recommendations directly with products.
As a result, creators can function as a combination of media channel, product demonstrator, salesperson and community builder.
This matters because people frequently want context before buying.
They want to know how something works. They want comparisons. They want reviews. They want to see another person’s experience.
Social commerce inserts those signals directly into the shopping experience.
However, businesses should avoid treating follower count as the only measure of creator value. Audience relevance, credibility, engagement quality, conversion behaviour and content fit can matter much more than raw reach.
Social Commerce Does Not Mean Abandoning E-Commerce
One common mistake is viewing social commerce as a replacement for websites, marketplaces and physical stores. Current consumer behaviour suggests a different model.
Social commerce is becoming another layer within an increasingly connected retail system. For example:
- TikTok may create awareness.
- Instagram may provide additional visual proof.
- Google may help the shopper compare alternatives.
- A marketplace may provide reviews and pricing.
- The brand website may explain the product in greater detail.
- A physical location may close the purchase.
The channels work together.
Adyen’s 2026 research found that 46% of Singapore consumers wanted seamless shopping experiences across online and physical channels, while 43% wanted real-time product visibility and 38% wanted technology that made shopping faster and easier.
Therefore, the bigger opportunity is not simply adding a social shop.
It is reducing friction between discovery and purchase wherever the customer chooses to complete the transaction.
What Businesses Can Learn From the Social Commerce Shift
For businesses exploring social commerce, several practical principles stand out:
- Create content around the product problem, not only the product. Demonstrations, comparisons and tutorials give consumers a reason to keep watching.
- Design content for discovery. Social users may not actively be shopping when they encounter your brand, so the first seconds need to establish relevance quickly.
- Make the next step obvious. Product links, clear pricing and simple checkout flows reduce unnecessary friction.
- Use creators based on audience fit. A smaller creator with the right community can be more commercially useful than broad reach with limited relevance.
- Connect social data with wider sales data. A customer may discover a product socially and convert somewhere else.
- Treat comments and reviews as part of the storefront. Questions and customer feedback can influence buyers as much as promotional copy.
- Measure profitability, not only engagement. Views and likes can signal interest, but businesses still need to track acquisition costs, conversion, order value and repeat purchases.
Trust Could Decide Who Wins
Making purchases easier also creates risks.
Singapore’s ScamShield reported 3,865 e-commerce scam cases during the first half of 2026, up 19.3% from the same period in 2025. Losses reached approximately S$8.3 million. ScamShield notes that victims can encounter fraudulent offers through online marketplaces or social platforms.
Trust is therefore part of conversion.
Adyen’s 2026 research found that when Singapore consumers encountered a payment error at checkout, 59% said it negatively affected their perception of the retailer. Twenty percent said they would abandon the transaction and avoid that retailer in the future.
Businesses using social commerce should therefore make their identity, pricing, fulfilment terms, return policies and payment process easy to verify.
Secure platform payment options also matter. ScamShield advises consumers to avoid moving transactions outside platforms and to use secured payment options offered by the platform where possible.
Fast conversion means little if customers do not trust the transaction.
Singapore Businesses Are Already Becoming More Digital
The growth of social commerce also sits inside a larger digitalisation trend.
IMDA reported that 95.1% of Singapore SMEs had adopted at least one measured area of digital technology in 2024, including e-commerce, e-payments, cybersecurity, cloud, data analytics and AI.
Furthermore, 97% had adopted at least one sector-specific digital solution.
Retail digitalisation continues as well. In May 2026, Enterprise Singapore and IMDA refreshed the Retail Industry Digital Plan. More than 75% of SME retailers surveyed had adopted entry-level solutions and 45% had adopted intermediate ones, although the agencies noted that adoption of advanced solutions remained limited.
Social commerce therefore should not exist as an isolated marketing tactic.
It increasingly connects with CRM systems, inventory, digital payments, analytics, customer service, fulfilment and AI-powered personalisation.
A viral social campaign can create demand. However, businesses still need operational systems capable of handling that demand.
Where Social Commerce in Singapore Goes Next
The next stage of social commerce will probably involve less separation between content, commerce and technology.
AI could personalise product recommendations and help brands create variations of social content. Creators will continue playing a larger role in product discovery. Livestream and short-form video could make shopping more interactive. At the same time, connected payment and inventory systems can reduce the gap between interest and checkout.
However, the winning model is unlikely to be “sell everything through social media”.
The stronger approach is to understand the role social platforms play within the entire customer journey.
For some brands, social commerce will directly generate transactions. For others, it will primarily generate discovery, trust and demand that converts somewhere else.
That distinction matters.
The rise of Social Commerce in Singapore shows that digital shopping is becoming less linear. Consumers move between creators, videos, reviews, marketplaces, websites and physical stores with little concern for where one channel ends and another begins.
Businesses need to think the same way.
The companies that benefit most from social commerce will not necessarily be the ones posting the most content. They will be the ones that connect compelling content, credible recommendations, reliable commerce infrastructure and a low-friction buying experience.
Because in social commerce, getting attention is only the beginning. Turning that attention into trust and then making it easy to buy, is where the business value starts.