What Are the Social Factors Affecting E-commerce?

What are the social factors affecting e-commerce now? Read on to learn more.

Social Factors Affecting E-commerce: Overview

What do social factors mean?

Social factors are the elements that make up the society and culture around you. It includes things like demographics, economic factors, cultural factors, technological factors, and political factors. 

Social media marketing is somewhat of a misnomer because it doesn’t just affect social media. In fact, it affects all aspects of digital marketing including SEO, PPC, and others.

Social Factors Affecting E-commerce

Demographics and age

Demographics include statistics about population, gender, age, race, income, and education. They are integral when it comes to the development of an e-commerce business. 

Demographics decide who your target market is and what products you will offer them. For instance, if you’re selling toys for children then parents are your target market. The choice of toys will depend on whether your target market is parents who have babies or parents with older kids.

Economic conditions

Economic factors include the economic growth rate in a particular region or country. It also includes employment rates as well as disposable income for consumers. 

If the economy is in a weak phase then consumers will be less likely to spend on luxury items. But, they are more likely to spend on cheap items such as groceries if they’re unemployed or in need of more basic goods to get by in their daily lives.

Culture and societal attitudes

Culture involves the values of a society and the attitudes that people have towards certain things including products. For instance, some cultures don’t like the exposure of breasts in advertisements while others don’t mind at all. 

Even within cultures, there are different attitudes depending on whether it’s older people or younger ones that hold the attitudes. This is why it’s important to understand demographics before making assumptions about the attitudes of your market.

Political climate

The political climate includes various laws that affect e-commerce like tax policies and government regulations. It also includes certain trade agreements. And that can affect international transactions especially when there are sanctions with other countries or regions.

Technological factors

Technology is a part of our social culture and it has an effect on the e-commerce business. For example, if your target market is young adults then they’re likely to use social media platforms like Facebook or Twitter for their shopping needs. 

Technology also includes the software available to you when it comes to managing your e-commerce business. For example, if you’ve chosen Shopify as your e-commerce platform then it has a variety of built-in features that makes running your business easy.

Buying habits

Buying habits are a form of consumer behavior that is influenced by culture and societal attitudes. For example, if a particular product is seen as taboo then people are less likely to buy it.

Quality expectations

Quality expectations are how people perceive the quality of the products they buy. A marketer needs to understand these expectations and adjust accordingly. For instance, if a marketer is selling a luxury item then the quality expectations will be much higher. 

Brand Positioning

Brand positioning is how you present yourself to your target market and it’s influenced by culture and societal attitudes. For example, a luxury brand will want to position itself as being exclusive while a budget brand will position itself as being affordable for everyone.