Instagram has been making its footprint in Social media. Although it is Facebook-owned, it never failed to rise to the line of other apps such as Twitter, and Facebook itself. It has always been an appealing platform to both regular and business users that they created a “switch-to-business-profile” option, allowing business clienteles to take advantage of their business profile features. And recently, there has been a rumour about Instagram transitioning to e-commerce.
As we can see, there’s been a lot of business users taking their posts to Instagram. They still have Facebook advertisements, but businesses nowadays seem to be more into Instagram-ing than e-commerce from other social media platforms. Most of these can be seen putting their ads on Instagram. Well, Instagram has improved a lot these past few years, and aside from helping brands or other retail businesses gain instant followers, they created innovative ideas to entice shoppers or other patrons. And that step towards Ads-posting is deemed to be a success.
But the question still hangs whether Instagram is genuinely getting into the e-commerce business by producing their shopping app (Zalora, Amazon, anyone?). It was last June when a shopping bag icon offered as an option to a selected number of retailers in Instagram. This allowed them to add an e-commerce element within their profile stories and later on expanded by adding a Collection ads icon for stories to all brands. Also last May, they offered booking and payment features for business users, which makes it now possible for users to do things like purchasing movie tickets, or schedule bookings such as salon appointments. You don’t need to open a browser or any other apps if your target retail has an account with Instagram. Sounds very convenient, doesn’t it?
Instagram has geared itself as far as e-commerce is in the context of the business. It was just last November when Instagram reported having more than 25 million marketers on the app to switch their accounts to business profiles, followed by Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom’s announcement that the app has reached its 1 billion-mark of monthly active users. The company also launched IGTV and Direct, which are stand-alone apps for video watching and messaging and a test-run progressed successfully into more retailers and advertisers pushing their products to the platform.
This positive feedback from audiences is a good business venture, though Instagram might not yet be admitting it. And as The Verge’s sources tell that Instagram is confident of their position in the e-commerce expansion, I believe that they are on the right track. And it’s an excellent opportunity for Facebook to earn another big cut of the pie.
References:
https://marketingland.com/instagram-rumored-to-be-making-further-moves-into-e-commerce-with-a-standalone-shopping-app-247479
https://i2.wp.com/www.ecommerce-nation.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/How-to-Generate-E-commerce-Sales-From-Instagram.jpg
http://www.onlineretailer.be/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/instagram-adverteren.png
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