What does it mean?
Social commerce means a business shows its products on an Instagram, Facebook or TikTok account, takes orders in direct messages or on WhatsApp, and then agrees payment and delivery with each customer.
How does it work?
Selling starts with content: photos, short videos and offers. A customer asks about the price in a comment or message, the seller replies and confirms the order, and payment is often cash on delivery. No website or payment system is needed, which suits anyone starting with little capital.
It has limits. Orders are scattered across chats, sales are not recorded automatically, and working out key numbers, such as repeat customers or customer acquisition cost, takes extra effort.
How is it different from selling on marketplaces?
On an online marketplace or the business's own store, each order passes through a system that records the sale, the payment and the shipping. In social commerce the seller is the whole system. A practical fix is to keep a simple spreadsheet of every order from day one.
In the Syrian context
According to the Entrepreneurship Observatory (October 2026), 76% of ventures sell through social media, 23% from a shop or office, 14% through their own online store, and only 2% through online marketplaces. The Observatory reads this as a clear sign of informal activity that needs payment, shipping and platform infrastructure.
AoSEn's reading of the 2025-2026 investment report notes that these sales are real, but hard to prove to an investor who wants numbers.
Example
A small children's clothing shop in Sweida shows its products on Instagram, takes orders on WhatsApp and ships them with a delivery company. Once the owner started logging every order in a spreadsheet, she found that a third of her sales came from customers who reorder every month.
Common questions
Does selling on Instagram and WhatsApp count as e-commerce?
In the broad sense, yes. It differs from an online store because orders and payments usually do not pass through an automated system.
Are social media sales enough to convince an investor?
They can be, if you can prove them with numbers. Record every order, its value and date, and keep delivery and payment receipts.
When should I move to an online store or marketplace?
When tracking orders by hand becomes hard, when you want to reach customers who do not follow your account, or when online payment and shipping become available at a reasonable cost.