All humans have a natural tendency to focus on negative information. Negative news stories are more likely to capture our attention and trigger emotional responses, making them more addictive. Doomscrolling is the act of spending an excessive amount of time reading or watching news, often on social media. This behaviour can lead to feelings of anxiety, depression, and stress. When we have downtime and our minds are less occupied, it's easy to get drawn into the endless scroll of negative news and social media posts. Engaging with negative news can release dopamine, a neurotransmitter associated with pleasure and reward. This can reinforce the behaviour, making it harder to break the cycle of doomscrolling.

When users see advertising for desirable products, it can trigger positive emotions like excitement, joy and even anticipation. This can neutralize the negative feelings associated with doomscrolling. The customer is likely to be drawn in by the visually appealing and emotionally resonant video. The soft music and close-up camera angles create a sense of intimacy and intrigue, making the product seem desirable and luxurious. Usually consumed on a relatively small and intimate smartphone. The slow-motion shots highlight the product's features and functionality, making it even more enticing.

Often these ads are personalized and targeted, ensuring that the customer sees a product that aligns with their interests and needs – usually based on previous searches or social media likes. The “shoppable ad” format makes it easy for the customer to view product details and prices, and the quick checkout process minimizes friction, encouraging an immediate purchase.

Overall, the customer experience is immersive, captivating, and convenient, making it more likely that they will be persuaded to make a purchase. Shoppable ads are a type of online advertising that allows consumers to purchase products directly from the ad itself. This creates a seamless shopping experience, eliminating the need to leave the platform or website where the ad was viewed.  

While the concept of shoppable ads isn't entirely new, the technology and widespread adoption have significantly evolved in recent years. Platforms like Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, TikTok, and Pinterest have popularized shoppable posts and stories, making it easy for users to discover and purchase products directly from their feeds. So, while the core idea has been around for a while, the modern implementation and sophistication of shoppable ads are relatively new and continue to evolve with advancements in technology and consumer behaviour.

As consumers spend more time on social media, shoppable ads allow them to learn about and purchase products through adverts. Traditional online advertising redirects consumers to a brand’s website, whereas shoppable ads allow consumers to complete their purchase without leaving the social media app. This effectively squeezes the “add to cart”, “checkout”, and “purchase” steps into a single “purchase” step of the ecommerce journey as shown:

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Shoppable ads are an important part of social commerce and there is a wide range of data on their effectiveness. According to marketing firm Acxiom, 60% to 70% of consumers who use shoppable ads say these ads enable them to buy products and services more efficiently.

In summary, retailers face a wide variety of challenges including competition, changing consumer preferences, complex payment acceptance infrastructures, supply chain management, digitalization, logistics, delivery, data and analytics and cost management. Retailers must find ways to adapt in an economic challenging period to remain competitive and find ways to design a customer journey that shortens the journey from the scrolling to the sale as efficiently as possible. EDC has decades of experience of establishing a payment acceptance strategy for leading retailers around the world. If you need to optimize payment acceptance, processing and payment innovation in the context of evolving customer journeys contact EDC.

The content of this article does not reflect the official opinion of Edgar, Dunn & Company. The information and views expressed in this publication belong solely to the author(s).