Two years ago, when a client asked us where to sell their products, the answer almost always pointed to their website. Today, a huge part of the purchasing decision takes place before the user even reaches your online shop: it happens on Instagram, TikTok or YouTube. That change has a name, and it’s called social commerce. In 2026, with artificial intelligence embedded in every aspect of every platform, the social commerce It is no longer just a promise, but has become a sales channel that any brand should treat with the same seriousness as its SEO or advertising campaigns.
In this article, we look at what the data tells us in Spain, why AI is accelerating this trend and, above all, what your business can do to avoid falling behind.
What is social commerce and why is it more important than ever?
The social commerce This refers to sales that take place within social media platforms themselves, without requiring the user to leave the app to discover, compare and buy. This isn’t the same as simply putting a link to your shop in your bio: we’re talking about integrated catalogues, product tagging, native shopfronts such as TikTok Shop, and payment processes that take place within the platform.
Why does it matter now? Because this consumer behaviour is already here. According to the IAB Spain’s 2026 Social Media Study (published in May 2026 and compiled with Elogia), 86 % of internet users aged between 12 and 75 use social media in Spain, which equates to 33.1 million people. And they do not stick to just one app: the average user now visits 7.2 social media platforms, compared with 5.3 in 2025.
When your audience is spread across so many platforms and spends around an hour a day on them, those networks cease to be merely a channel of communication. They become the place where it is decided which brands exist and which do not.
Social commerce data in Spain (and what it reveals)
The same study by IAB Spain presents specific figures, and they are hard to ignore:
- 44 per cent of users acknowledge that social media influences their purchasing decisions.
- One in four has already made a purchase directly via a social media platform.
- The 54 % uses social media to search for information before shopping online, with Instagram as the main platform for research and TikTok gaining ground in product discovery.
The figure soars when we look at younger generations. Among Generation Z, 56 % admit that social media influences what they buy, and 35 % have already made a purchase directly via social media. TikTok, moreover, has a penetration rate of 61 % amongst Generation Z and 68 % amongst Generation Alpha. If your future customer is currently under 30, your shop window no longer starts on Google: it starts in a feed.
The message for brands is clear. The purchasing journey has been shortened. There used to be a comfortable gap between “seeing something I like” and “buying it”; now that gap can be bridged with just two taps on the screen. Anyone who designs that journey to be simple and trustworthy has a real advantage.
How AI is accelerating social commerce
This is where artificial intelligence is a game-changer. The social commerce It has always been about putting the right product in front of the right person at the right time, and that is precisely what AI does best today.
Discovery and personalised recommendations
TikTok and Instagram’s algorithms no longer show you what you follow, but rather what they predict you’ll want. For a brand, this means that good content can reach buyers who weren’t even aware of the brand. AI turns every video into a real-time market test.
Conversational shopping assistants
Generative AI is also making its way into the shopping experience itself. According to the Adyen Index: Retail Report, 35 % of Spanish consumers already use artificial intelligence to assist them with their online shopping experience, and more than half say that this technology helps them find inspiration when choosing products. Recommendation systems, chatbots that answer specific queries and assistants that compare options are moving from being a nice-to-have to an expectation.
Content production at scale
Maintaining a presence on seven different social media platforms was unfeasible for most SMEs just a couple of years ago. The use of AI in video, image and copy creation has made it feasible to post frequently and adapt the same message to the conventions of each platform. This is the foundation on which we are already working when we talk about AI-powered hyper-personalisation: the same catalogue, a thousand different versions depending on who’s looking at it.
The trust factor: the other side of AI
It would be a mistake to market AI as a magic wand with no strings attached. The IAB Spain study itself highlights a growing demand for transparency: 87 % of users consider it essential that content generated by artificial intelligence be labelled.
In strategic terms, this means that automation must not be at odds with honesty. An AI-based product recommendation that gets it right builds trust; one that comes across as a ploy to upsell destroys it. And in social commerce, where payment takes place within the app itself, trust is not just a nice-to-have: it is the deciding factor in whether someone enters their card details or closes the tab. It is no coincidence that consumers continue to prioritise payment security and a simple, transparent shopping experience.
How to prepare your brand for selling on social media in 2026
Social commerce doesn’t happen at the flick of a switch, but it doesn’t require a huge budget either. This is the roadmap we follow with clients who want to get off to a good start:
- Connect your catalogue to the right platforms. You don’t need to be on all of them. Decide where your customers actually are and prioritise one or two platforms – usually Instagram and TikTok for B2C.
- Design with discovery in mind, not just for your followers. As we saw when analysing How often should you post on Instagram to grow your following?, consistency and format matter more than the size of your community.
- Use AI to personalise, not to bombard. Useful recommendations, quick replies and content tailored to each audience. If you use automation, label anything generated by AI.
- Look beyond the “likes”. The aim is sales and return on investment. Link your social media accounts to your analytics and ensure every euro is attributed correctly.
- Incorporate social commerce into your overall strategy. It’s not a silo. It works best when it’s supported by your SEO, your email and your advertising, just as we set out in our vision for marketing, SEO and social media.
Your shop window is no longer your website: it’s your customer’s feed
E-commerce in Spain continues to grow. The report Online shopping in Spain The ONTSI estimates that 29.4 million people shopped online in 2024 (83.3 % of internet users), with an average spend of 3,762 euros, an increase of 13.8 % compared with the previous year. An ever-increasing proportion of this spending begins – and in many cases ends – on a social media platform.
That is why we urge our clients to stop viewing social media as a noticeboard. Today, it is a sales channel with its own logic, its own data and, thanks to AI, a capacity for personalisation that would have sounded like science fiction just a few years ago. The question is no longer whether the social commerce It’s not just about whether it works for your business, but how much ground you’re prepared to cede to whoever takes advantage of it before you do.
At Vandelay, we help brands set up and monetise this channel in a smart way: with a data-driven strategy, content that attracts new customers, and just the right technology to make every euro count. If you’d like to know where your brand should start, let’s have a chat.
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