Instagram launches E-commerce with Shopping, its integrated platform

The goal is first to encourage brands to advertise more on this social network. Indeed, the service does not pay for itself, and Instagram does not (yet) take any commission on sales.

It is an additional marketing effort for brands that are already interested in the web, with a Facebook catalogue to synchronize, and that have an influence on Instagram, especially in the fashion and cosmetics sector, with a young audience.

We then talk about social marketing, aimed particularly at young adults and teenagers, who are more sensitive to the images they see on social networks. And the sector is a promising one! In fact, 72% of Instagram users make a purchase after seeing the product on the social network and 80% of the community follows at least one brand. 

It is a real gold mine for the two million monthly advertisers (and 25 million company accounts) present on Instagram: 8000 million users connect to it every month. The engagement rate of these users is more than 4%, with an involvement rate 58 times higher than Facebook and 120 times higher than Twitter.

This “Shopping” platform is also adapted to Stories, videos available for 24 hours using the Snapchat principle. The conversion potential seems more than interesting: a story seen by 20,000 people could bring up to 500 clicks to the online shop. Compared to physical points of sale, the sales possibilities thanks to this Shopping functionality seem endless.

This “buy” button is designed to simplify the shopping experience, especially on smartphones. Indeed, Instagram is much more optimized for mobile than most retail sites. This application follows the so-called “mobile first” model, which means that the mobile interface was developed before the desktop interface, which also offers less functionality.

With the instinctive design, 4 clicks are enough to buy the product: the user visits the merchant site only by clicking on the CTA (Call To Action), the next 3 clicks are necessary to validate the sale. By optimizing the mobile purchase and reducing the number of clicks, we increase conversions considerably.

This new platform, first launched in the United States last November (an event attended by Abercrombie & Fitch, Levi’s and Macy’s) has just passed the test phase. Canada, Brazil and Australia followed a few days ago.

This Shopping feature has just arrived in Europe (in Germany, Spain, Italy and France), with 5 brands in France (Sephora, Clarins, Birchbox, La Redoute and Slip Français).

Switzerland and the rest of the world should benefit from this Shopping function within the year.

Instagram also plans to open the platform to service companies: Restaurants and bars could propose to their customers to reserve a table, as for companies in the tourism sector, the possibilities seem infinite as Instagram influences and inspires users about their travels.

Another element to take into account is the fact that the collaboration between brands and influencers will increase more and more. Influence marketing is becoming more and more prominent in digital and social network marketing. Influencers will be able to highlight products and the person will only have to order that product, which has been recommended by an influencer, on the application.

In fact, this new feature offered by Instagram provides an additional tool for brands. In addition to increasing brand visibility, Shopping allows you to limit the number of steps to purchase a product. The client will only have to quietly consult his social network and will be able to purchase products or services from this application.