Instagram is taking the next step towards offering an on-platform shopping experience via a “Shop” section included within the Explore tab, which shows items available to purchase in a feed of its own
The new listings show personalised recommendations based on the user’s account details – including the accounts they follow and other interests.
Facebook announced the Shops in Instagram back in May – so this is the next step forward for the platform.
Instagram Shop will have fresh collections and products from brands and creators, as well as special curations from our social shopping channel, @shop. For those in the US, look out for our checkout arrows
https://about.instagram.com/blog/announcements/instagram-shop-discover-and-buy-products-you-love-all-in-one-place/that show which products you can buy directly on Instagram without leaving the app. And later this year, we’re adding a new Shop tab in the navigation bar, so you can get to Instagram Shop in just one tap.
Retailers should, therefore, take a look at whether Instagram Shopping could work for them. Of course, as is the nature of Instagram, brands which rely on imagery to sell products could see this as an interesting additional avenue.
In order to sell on the platform, approved businesses tag products in the normal Instagram posts, which Instagram then uses to recommend to users
Instagram is currently testing this, initially in the US, and will be rolling it out globally in the coming weeks. Instagram is also testing shopping tags within post captions, and will later be adding a new Shop tab to the navigation bar which allows people to get to the sho in a single tap.
Facebook, which owns Instagram, is also later introducing Facebook Pay in the US, which provides a seamless, secure way to shop and make donations across Facebook’s portfolio of apps and platforms
With more people shopping online and spending time on social media platforms, this could be a very interesting time for the future of ecommerce and social media marketing.
Instagram already has an embedded audience full of avid shoppers using the platform to keep up with the latest trends and browsing for inspiration on what to buy. The option to buy directly could well be a very lucrative option for businesses.
