Live Shopping and Influencer Buys Are Declining. Fundamentals Are Back.

For the last few years, the advice to brands was consistent: get on social, find the right influencers, chase the viral moment. Salsify’s newest consumer research suggests that advice is starting to run out of road.

According to Salsify’s 2026 Consumer Research report, the moments that made social commerce feel unstoppable, influencer recommendations, viral products, live shopping events, are all cooling off at the same time. Brands that spent the last two years building their strategy around those moments now have a real question to answer: what happens when the tactic you invested in stops converting the way it used to?

The Numbers Behind the Cooldown

The decline shows up consistently across every flavor of social-driven buying. Per Salsify’s research on 2026 social media strategy, only 22% of consumers currently make purchases directly on social platforms, a 12% year-over-year drop from 2025. Social media now ranks fifth as an actual purchase destination, behind physical retail and online marketplaces.

The influencer-specific numbers tell the same story. Twenty-three percent of shoppers say they’ve purchased a product because an influencer recommended it, but that figure is down 16% from 2025. Viral product purchases dropped 12% year over year, and live shopping events dropped even further, down 17%.

None of these are small statistical wobbles. They’re consistent double-digit declines across every format that defined social commerce’s rise.

Social Media Isn’t Disappearing. It’s Just Not Where the Sale Happens Anymore.

This isn’t a story about social media losing relevance. The same research shows social platforms are still a genuine force earlier in the shopping journey: 52% of shoppers use social media to discover new products and brands, and 42% use it for research once they’re considering a purchase. For Gen Z specifically, social is the top discovery channel by a wide margin.

What’s changed is where the funnel breaks. Shoppers are willing to find a product on social. They are increasingly unwilling to buy it there, or to buy it simply because a face they follow told them to. Somewhere between discovery and decision, they’re stepping away from the feed and going looking for something more substantial.

What’s Winning Instead: The Fundamentals

Salsify’s broader 2026 consumer trends research points to exactly what shoppers are looking for once they leave the feed. Durability and longevity rank as the top factor in perceived product quality, cited by 54% of shoppers. Positive reviews and ratings come in at 47%. Brand reputation and history sit at 45%. And more broadly, 67% of shoppers say product quality and value are the biggest drivers of brand trust, with 68% saying they’ve paid more for a product specifically because they trusted the brand behind it.

None of that trust gets built by a fifteen-second video or a well-timed livestream. It gets built by product content that actually answers the questions a careful shopper is asking: how long will this last, what do other buyers say about it, does this brand have a track record worth trusting. That’s product detail page work. It’s specification work. It’s the unglamorous content infrastructure that doesn’t trend on anyone’s feed but shows up every time a shopper is deciding whether to click buy.

The Practical Takeaway: Invest Where the Funnel Actually Converts

None of this means brands should abandon social media. The discovery and research numbers make clear it still earns its place in the budget. But the brands treating social as a full-funnel strategy, expecting a viral moment or an influencer partnership to close the sale, are fighting a trend that’s moving against them.

The brands that never stopped investing in strong product detail pages, complete specifications, credible reviews, and consistent content across every channel a shopper checks are the ones positioned to win as this shift plays out. That’s not a flashy strategy. It’s the one the data says is actually converting.

For brands re-evaluating where to put their content budget heading into the back half of 2026, this is a good moment to ask a blunt question: if a shopper found your product on social today, would your product page give them a reason to trust it enough to buy? If the honest answer is no, that’s the gap worth closing first, well before the next campaign or the next influencer partnership.

Ready to build product content that converts once the discovery moment is over? Sitation’s PIM & PXM and enhanced content services can help you strengthen the product detail pages shoppers actually rely on to make their final decision. Contact us to get started.