Is Instagram Shopping Becoming The Future of Ecommerce?
In a world where most conversations and transactions are happening on the fingertips today, shopping directly via social media is the obviously the next natural step. With the pandemic being around for a while, online shopping surely continues to be the lifeline for many. An average person spends a significant amount of his daily hours browsing through his social media feeds. Which makes it essential for marketers to cash on that opportunity and provide a seamless shopping experience.
Brands are treating social media as a sales platform now more than ever. What started as merely a visual storytelling platform, Instagram now has moved way beyond and is a massive e-commerce channel that can further enhance your sales. It can change the way we approach e-commerce today. But, let’s go beyond Instagram launching this new shopping feature.
What is Instagram Shopping?
In November 2016, Instagram announced they would be introducing Instagram Shopping. This idea came about after they learned that it takes at least a day for a majority of purchases to be completed and only 21% of purchases were completed within a day. They wanted to reduce the number of steps required for Instagram users to complete their purchases after discovering products through the platform. Hence this feature would allow retailers to add product tags to their Instagram posts so users can easily get more information about the products via the platform.
All users have to do is ‘Tap’ a button to see all the features and price of the product. Instagram users will be able to use the platform to discover new products and learn more about them. If anything attracts them, they can instantly find the information that they need without ever leaving the platform. And if they do decide to purchase something, they will be directly taken to a relevant page where they can complete the purchase.
What Does Instagram’s Checkout Process Look Like?
With Instagram shopping users can go from inspiration to purchase without ever leaving the Instagram app. No doubt its a great place to showcase your product visually and it’s the perfect marriage for small businesses looking to bolster their online revenue stream. The checkout process is super simple too. All you need to do is enter payment details only once and then just begin making purchases, without needing to leave the app. This surely helps drive the audience from browsing to purchasing in just a few quick taps can have a huge impact on conversion rate as it creates a seamless experience for the customers.
Benefits Of Setting Up Instagram Shopping?
Whether you’re a big name brand or a small mom-and-pop shop, Instagram is overflowing with a hungry audience. Both selling and promoting products on the platform can revolutionize not only brand awareness but sales.
1. Simple online shopping for consumers- Customers can skip jumping link to link and rather enjoy the effortless experience of browsing catalogs, checking prices, and learning more about a particular product all on one platform.
2. Market directly to consumers- For many brands, Instagram is the first place consumers go to connect. creating a storefront on the platform allows brands to market directly to consumers through various types of organic content. B2C marketing helps in higher customer satisfaction rate and provides more opportunities to expand your business.
3. Visual Marketing lead to Sales and taps into impulsive buying- With products so perfectly positioned and easily bought, the Instagram shop has tapped into the market of impulse buying. Impulse buying is a strong marketing strategy as the consumer does not give much importance to the product itself, but rather what the product can bring to their life or how it will make them feel. Subsequently, impulse buying relies heavily on emotions, which makes it a great pair for B2C marketing.
The Takeaway
There is no doubt that Instagram has taken social media by storm and is making massive waves in the ecommerce space. As the platform continues to grow, so do its innovative and imaginative features.
Instagram Shopping has opened up a whole new world for B2C marketing and has even managed to capture a large share of impulse buying. If you’re a brand or creator, there’s a whole host of new ways to drive sales and reach new audiences, so it’s worth getting ahead of the curve as social shopping shows no sign of slowing down.
“Ecommerce isn’t the cherry on the cake, it’s the new cake” — Jean Paul Ago CEO L’Oreal
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See you next week :)
