Dear Colleagues,

As an emerging business model that integrates social media and e-commerce, social commerce has greatly changed the methods of traditional online business, such as online marketing, selling, and the purchasing of products and services [1,2]. In the era of social commerce, consumers can use various social media (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, WeChat, and Weibo) to support each other online by obtaining and sharing valuable and reliable information about products and services [3]. Such social interactions and user generated content in social media networks also add value to firms by helping them improve their performance [4].

Despite social commerce attracting extensive attention from both researchers and practitioners [3,5], there is a gap in the literature for understanding how this emerging business model could be developed sustainably. For instance, what are the key factors that influence consumers to continue shopping on a social commerce platform? How do new forms of social media (e.g., live-stream platforms) affect consmers’ behaviors of seeking, shopping, and sharing products and services? What are the key components of the social commerce ecosystem, and how can one build a sustainable social commerce ecosystem?  

The purpose of this Special Issue therefore is to focus on studies that enhance and broaden the understanding of the sustainable development of a business under the background of social media. We are inviting researchers who are interested in this topic to submit their high-level original research works from various perspectives, such as from that of the consumer, retailer, channel, technology, and ecosystem of social commerce. Articles, including research articles, reviews, communication, and concept papers, should address, but are not limited to, the following:

• Social commerce repurchasing behaviors
• Marketing strategies for sustainability of social commerce
• Social commerce forms in the new era
• Co-create value in social commerce
• Social commerce and AI
• Online reviews and social commerce
• Customer journey management for sustainability of social commerce
• The channel integration quality between social media and e-commerce
• Social interaction model and its impact on social commerce
• The sustainable social commerce ecosystem
• Economic recession and COVID-19
• Public behaviour and COVID-19

1. Chen, J.; Shen, X.-L. Consumers' decisions in social commerce context: An empirical investigation. Support Syst., 2015, 79, 55–64.
2. Horng, S.-M.; and Wu, C.-L. How behaviors on social network sites and online social capital influence social commerce intentions. Manag., 2020, 57, 103–176.
3. Bhattacharyya, S.; Bose, I. S-commerce: Influence of Facebook likes on purchases and recommendations on a linked e-commerce site. Support Syst., 2020, 138, 113–383.
4. Hajli, N. Social commerce and the future of e-commerce. Hum. Behav., 2020, 108, 106–133.
5. Fu, J.; Sun, Y.; Zhang, Y.; Shuiqing, Y. Does Similarity Matter? The Impact of User Similarity on Online Collaborative Shopping. IEEE Access, 2020, 8, 1361–1373.

Dr. Shuiqing Yang
Dr. Yixiao Li
Dr. Atika Qazi
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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• social commerce
• e-commerce
• social media
• online reviews
• social shopping
• consumer behaviour
• sentiment analysis
• renewable energy