Social Commerce Terms Defined

What is Conversational Commerce?

A commerce model where buying and selling happens within messaging or chat interfaces rather than traditional websites or apps.

Detailed Explanation

Conversational commerce (c-commerce) refers to the intersection of messaging apps and ecommerce, where transactions — discovery, recommendation, negotiation, and purchase — occur within a conversation thread. Coined by Uber's Chris Messina in 2015, the concept has grown massively with the rise of WhatsApp, Instagram DMs, Messenger, and Telegram. AI-powered sales chatbots enable businesses to automate the conversational commerce process at scale, handling thousands of customer conversations simultaneously without human agents.

FAQs about Conversational Commerce

What is the difference between conversational commerce and social commerce?
Social commerce refers to selling through social media broadly (including posts, stories, and shops), while conversational commerce specifically refers to transactions that occur within a private messaging or chat conversation.
Why is conversational commerce growing?
Consumers increasingly prefer messaging over email or phone for business interactions. Messaging apps have billions of daily active users and offer a familiar, low-friction environment for making purchases.

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