Shopping via Instagram: The Influence of Perceptions of Value, Benefits and Risks on Purchase Intentions

2.1. Social Commerce

Social commerce is an evolution of e-commerce and a new way of undertaking online business, available as a result of the dramatic growth of social media sites and their active users. Social commerce uses a Web 2.0 infrastructure and social media applications to support online interactions and user contributions for the acquisition of products and services (Liang & Turban, 2011; Liang & Turban, 2012). Yadav et al (2013) define social commerce as “…exchange-related activities that occur in, or are influenced by, an individual's social network in computer-mediated social environments, where the activities correspond to the need recognition, pre-purchase, purchase, and post-purchase stages of a focal exchange…” The unique features that differentiate social commerce from e-commerce are that the former makes it possible for consumers and sellers to generate content and for both to interact with each other at any time and from anywhere (Kim & Park, 2013). Web 2.0 applications enable the interactions of online users, with the information shared among users being able to help in the decision-making in relation to products and services (Hajli, 2014). Aside from assisting users in seeking and exchanging information, social media also facilitate the sharing of opinions and the purchasing of products and services online (Constantinides, 2014). This makes social commerce a powerful channel for online businesses while simultaneously supporting customer-centric contexts, such as customer services and understanding customer personae (Liang & Turban, 2012).