By Allie Tattersall, Executive Director, OMD EMEA
The idea of the linear funnel, awareness, consideration, conversion, has long been a mainstay of marketing. There’s an argument that it has never been fully accurate with so many touchpoints being available, and in 2026, that’s truer than ever.
Social commerce is playing a huge part in this shift, with AI, social media, personalised communications, and in-app shopping increasingly resulting in a compressed funnel.
Social media and commerce have always been closely related, mostly due to social media’s importance as a vehicle of influencer marketing and the creator economy. However, in recent years social platforms have evolved from inspiration drivers to tangible purchase drivers.
To add further nuance, social platforms can serve different purposes: platforms like Pinterest, YouTube and Reddit can primarily serve as inspiration (via visuals or reviews), while the likes of TikTok and Instagram with direct in-app shopping capabilities can drive purchase.
The fact that social platforms can be discovery and purchase drivers at once contributes to the collapse of the traditional path to purchase. Brands therefore should mirror this, tailoring content and media strategies per platform and funnel stage to capitalise on the all-encompassing capabilities of the platforms.
One key assumption of the traditional purchase funnel was the idea that potential shoppers would find a brand or product based on a need or desire, with media’s role in this consideration phase to be visible to capitalise on potential demand.
But the growth of influencer marketing (with influencers functioning as a recommendation engine) and highly personalised social media feeds (a consequence of platform algorithms) both serve to turn this assumption on its head. According to research from Bankrate, 48% of US social media users have made an impulse purchase having seen a product on social media.
And social media platforms are responding to this changing consumer behaviour too: Instagram recently launched native affiliate shopping links , competing with the likes of ShopMy and LTK, with the aim of reducing friction in the purchase journey and keeping users in app.
Brands have more opportunity than ever to reach new audiences who are ready to buy and capitalise on sales, but to successfully take advantage of this they must do their part to reduce friction in the path to purchase (by ensuring availability and utilising distribution channels that align with where discovery takes place).
Finally, generative AI is reshaping the path to purchase. Boston Consulting Group research shows that shopping-related generative AI use grew by 35% from February to November 2025, and IAB/Talk Shoppe research shows that 40% of US shoppers use AI to assist them while shopping. Generative AI therefore compresses the path to purchase: it serves as a product recommendation engine and increasingly a checkout.
While widespread adoption of AI to assist shopping is still some way off (with trust a barrier at this point in time), it’s important for brands to think about generative experience optimisation (GEO) now to ensure that their content and products can be interpreted by AI models, to be part of the conversation that consumers are having.
Ultimately, social commerce’s effect on the path to purchase is manifold and requires agility from brands and agencies to successfully navigate. A holistic approach to media, content, and retail strategies thinking of the consumer as a whole increases the likelihood of a purchase, and therefore should be the main consideration for brands today.
