Why shop on social media? A systematic review

Despite the vast possibilities of sales on social media, conversion rates for online sales on social media platforms are less than 1%. To understand how the purchase decision process occurs in social media, we conducted a systematic literature review to address Q1: what are the main factors impacting consumers buying behaviour the literature has brought to light? We also addressed Q2: how has the perception of marketing in social media evolved in recent years? Our results show six different reasons (trust, price, product's quality, influencer endorsement, word of mouth, and advertising) that motivate social media customers' purchase behaviour. Moreover, four of these reasons (trust, product's quality perception, influencer endorsement and word of mouth) are directly influenced by a factor inherent in the characteristics of social media, the social interaction. The COVID-19 pandemic has also led many consumers to buy through social media and we believe this is a permanent move.