Global Journal of Commerce & Management Perspective
Open Access

The Contribution of Social Commerce to Increasing Consumer Engagement with International Products

Bamforth Siman^{* *}Correspondence: Bamforth Siman, Department of Commerce, University of Lincoln, Manchester, UK, Email:

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Description

Cross-Border E-Commerce (CBEC) has developed quickly, yet there are still many serious problems, such as information asymmetry and ambiguity. Social commerce platforms have appeared to offer customers fresh methods for resolving these problems and facilitating purchases. The underlying mechanism explaining why and how CBEC customers use social commerce platforms to speed up information processing, however, is still little understood. The Cross-Border E-Commerce (CBEC) sector has experienced tremendous growth as a result of the quick development and perfecting of ubiquitous internet connections, cutting-edge technology, cross-border logistics, supply chains, and the globalization of international trade. The value of the global CBEC retailing market is anticipated to rise by 30% between 2019 and 2026. China has increased international circulation to support the CBEC's rapid expansion and to support the growth of foreign commerce. China's CBEC market had imports and exports totaling 1.98 trillion yuan in 2021, 15% greater than the previous year. It is generally acknowledged that the CBEC decision-making process has greater information processing and acquisition needs than domestic retailing. This is due to the fact that the problems with information transparency, ambiguity, and asymmetry in CBEC are sometimes distinct from or more severe than those in domestic e-commerce. Additionally, CBEC trade parties and cross-border goods are frequently located in various states or nations; payments, shipping, and post-sale services are also carried out in many locations.

The rise of social commerce has given customers new ways to deal with the problem of knowledge asymmetry. Social media, according to Han and Kim (2019), is a vital instrument for improving CBEC consumers' knowledge and helps them to assess cross-border items and global brands to establish buy intents in a global setting. Social commerce platforms have appeared and are developing quickly in China. For instance, posts on social commerce platforms frequently feature in-depth product reviews, varied information displays, hyperlinks, and multiple access, promoting social interactions and the sharing of knowledge about international goods. These advantages encourage CBEC customers to engage in social commerce, improving their comprehension of the sought goods. Also, the improved interactions in social commerce present special chances for customers to consider the "knowledge of the crowd," discuss, modify, and improve their comprehension of an international offering. Particularly, many international items are not wellknown to domestic consumers in their daily lives, and such encounters are frequently absent through other CBEC channels.

Social commerce has consequently emerged as a crucial avenue for facilitating CBEC shopping. It is crucial to comprehend how CBEC consumers use social commerce to speed up the processing of their knowledge and aid in making decisions. Although social commerce has received a lot of attention in domestic online retailing, there is still a knowledge gap in the area of CBEC. As previously mentioned, international marketers cannot completely comprehend whether their social commerce methods are successfully encouraging CBEC consumers to make purchase decisions without conducting in-depth examinations into such concerns. Unfortunately, earlier research on CBEC buying has generally concentrated on just one issue, such as motivation, technological aspects, and product descriptions. The second difficulty is that the components should reflect distinctive aspects of a particular environment, as research into a particular context can provide unique and thorough knowledge, which is crucial for understanding an unknown phenomenon.