Here’s What you Need to Know About Instagram In-App Shopping

Social commerce keeps growing and helps brands drive conversion through their feed. Shopping on Instagram is not something new anymore. With more than 800,000 shoppers using Instagram every month, some brands have reported 1,416% growth in traffic and 20% growth in revenue.

Instagram In-App Shopping gives businesses an immerse storefront for people to explore brand’s best products and share featured items through organic posts, Instagram Storiesand Search & Explore. On 19 March, social platform introduced Instagram checkout, which allows users buy products without leaving the app. Instagram’s new shopping feature has already been used by global brands like Nike, MAC Cosmetics, Michael Kors, Dior, H&M, Zara and many more.

Consumers love online shopping, but it often disappoints on mobile. With this in-app alternative, Instagram is said to be the “digital mall of the future”. Users can instantly purchase the products they see, selecting from various options such as size and color, without leaving Instagram. If your eCommerce business hasn’t used that feature yet, you should enable shopping on Instagram and join the world of great results in traffic and revenue.

In this post we will discuss how to set up shopping on Instagram and how to effectively use Instagram shopping to grow your business and boost sales.

How Instagram In-App Browsing Works

A couple of years ago, back in 2016, Instagram debuted the idea of “shoppable media” after noticing a shift in consumer behaviour due to the rapid adoption of the smartphone. With a smartphone by our side wherever we went, we soon noticed we could do more and more with it, for example satisfy our need to buy everything we could think of.

It didn’t stop there. Not only were we able to browse online stores practically whenever we wanted, but also compare prices between stores at a moment’s notice to ensure we had the best possible deal. That was then, and now Instagram is expanding our shopping capabilities by turning businesses into visual storefronts where we can view products, learn more about them, and even buy from them — all without leaving the Instagram app.

All shoppable tags and shoppable posts are turning Instagram into a “one tap shop”. When someone taps on your post or a product sticker in your story, they’ll be taken to a product description page where they will see:

• An image of the product from your post
• A description of the product
• How much the product costs
• A link that takes them directly to your website, where they can purchase the product (If you haven’t enabled or are not eligible for Instagram checkout yet)

Let’s look at some examples of shopping posts and stories used by brands on Instagram.

Michael Kors 

Followers: 14.5 million

Dior

Followers: 25.2 million

H&M 

Followers: 30.2 million

The new Instagram checkout feature is encouraging people to shop more and complete purchases through the app. So, how does it work? When you tap to view the product from a shoppable post, you’ll see a “Checkout on Instagram” button on the product page. You’ll then have a chance to select from different sizes/colors and proceed directly to payment. You’ll only need to enter your name, email, billing information and shipping address the first time you check out.

Once the order is complete, your information will be securely saved for the next time you shop. You will also receive notifications regarding your order through Instagram, so you can easily track your purchase.

Note: Checkout on Instagram is currently enabled by selected brands and available to people in the US, however the social platform announced that more will be coming soon.

Why Commerce Business Should Care About This Update

If you’re a brand with a physical product, you wouldn’t want to miss a chance of selling more and introduce your products to 500 million daily Instagram users. Big or small, newcomer or a seasoned veteran — selling on Instagram is and will always be a good idea if you have any sort of eCommerce real estate.

By giving your users immediate access to pricing and product details right then and there, within their feed, you’ll make it that much more likely they’ll convert in that moment. The fewer steps in takes for a shopper to complete the purchase, the more likely it is they will do so.

With so many users shopping on mobile, convenience is certainly a key to success. Instagram is trying to solve the problem of a complicated checkout process and cart abandonment by its new in-app feature. People hate jumping from one app to another, from an app to a website and constantly entering their shipping info. Instagram will require the details only for first-time shoppers and securely store credit card and shipping details, to allow user to shop in less than a few minutes.

Once you get approved for shopping on Instagram, it is very easy to create a shoppable post. Currently you are able to tag up to 5 products per image and up to 20 products in a carousel image post. If you want to allow your followers to shop via Instagram Stories, you will only require tapping the sticker icon, selecting “product” sticker.

From Inspiration to Conversion

According to BigCommerce, early adopters of the technology are reporting increased traffic and sales from Instagram, as a result of the tagging capability. Customers nowadays have greater opportunity to connect with brands they love and quickly see relevant information about the products, without leaving the Instagram app. Faster checkout means more sales and you should definitely take this into consideration as an online retailer. Instagram is revolutionising the world of eCommerce and its newest update is certainly going to bring excellent results for many global brands using this feature.

Let us know what your thoughts are on Instagram In-App Shopping in comments!