OFFSTONE JAN EDITION 2023

31 Social Media a Platform for Shopping With the increasing popularity of e-commerce, people are considering social media to purchase their products and services. Facebook and Instagram are examples of social networking platforms that act as virtual stores where users can conveniently shop. In addition, social networks offer a range of marketing features and tools that sellers can use to advertise their goods and services and attract buyers. Most importantly, the price of a social media platform is lower than that of other marketing platforms, such as in-person sellers, intermediaries, or merchants. These advantages attract buyers the most. Without worrying about renting space, sellers can save money and use it to offer the best price to their customers. The main advantage of shopping on social media is that buyers get endless information without a human being involved. Online stores offer the ability to shop around the clock and a greater selection and variety. The amount of information that can be offered is much more significant than any other form of communication, which is a distinct advantage over other forms of interaction. More importantly, the shopping experience is convenient for customers, with no crowds and no need to find a parking in the mall. In addition, online stores are best for discreetly buying things that might be embarrassing to buy in front of others. Still, buyers must be careful when shopping online because they usually deal with strangers. Although many honest sellers sell their products such as food, clothes, arts, and crafts, etc., many also use online platforms to scam unsuspecting buyers. This can negatively impact genuine sellers, their products and services depending on how they are presented online, and the quality of items and services offered to buyers. Even though buyers can testify online and provide feedback to warn others about becoming victims of scammers, not much can be done to stop these dishonest sellers. Once these scammers receive payments, they usually disappear without a trace. Even the websites and phone numbers were no longer available. Apart from being victims of online scammers, many buyers also stated that they were led around by the nose and that the delivery of the products sometimes took more than a month, and sometimes the quality of the products received was not exactly as advertised in the online shop. Social media is equally complicated, especially regarding to online shopping. The Mason brothers explained that using social media technologies in business also comes with security concerns, including data authenticity, privacy breaches, and commercial threats such as information leaks. Some user information, trust, privacy, and security issues are revealed. According to Hoffmann and his fellow researchers, customer loyalty to social media marketers is highly influenced by trust, especially the aspects of transaction security and privacy. This is