Retail CIO Outlook Weekly Brief
Be first to read the latest tech news, Industry Leader's Insights, and CIO interviews of medium and large enterprises exclusively from Retail CIO Outlook
Instagram is often gossiped to be developing a standalone shopping, and a commercial application named the IG shopping app. With the resignation of Instagram co-founders, Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger, there is a huge need for Instagram to adopt a more aggressive approach for monetization. Here, the question is, how can a separate shopping application be the future of e-commerce? Instagram is steadily evolving, testing and evaluating the new features, and experimenting with new approaches to increase the value of businesses on its platform with more than 25 million business profiles and more than 2 million advertisers.
Instagram released its latest app, IGTV in June 2018. IGTV is a new app for viewing long-form, vertical video from Instagram creators. These videos aren’t limited to one minute, and each video can be up to an hour. Manchester City FC, The Economist, and National Geographic are some of the contents on IGTV. It is clear that social media platforms will become the next big broadcasting channels. Instagram in March 2018, released Shoppable posts which is a specific feature that allows brands to tag products within the posts. This app can redirect the user directly to the brands’ “Add to cart” section from the post with just three clicks. Shoppable Posts immediately followed with the release of Shoppable Stories Stickers, a feature which allows the users to shop their favorite products directly from the stories. However, in September, it was revealed that Instagram is marking its identity and reputation in the field of e-commerce with the release of a shopping app, IG shopping. With this app, users can browse collections of goods from merchants and buy them directly within the app.
Small businesses are using Instagram as a marketing channel for selling their products online. Instagram is developing the tools that make it seamless for the customers to buy directly from their feeds. Big brands like Glossier, Gap, and Nordstrom have optimized their feeds to shoppable media which can adapt quickly and deploy the strategies. Instagram has introduced a web and mobile-optimized landing page that resembles the Instagram feed, known as “Link in bio.” By clicking on a photo, this redirects to a specific URL. The link in bio in an image is an absolute game-changer for the brands.
With all these features, it is apparent that Instagram is bringing a massive transformation in the world of e-commerce. It is clear that Instagram sees e-commerce as a crucial and lucrative part of its business going forward.
Read Also
