Instagram, a few days ago, decided to launch the Shopping feature in Italy as well. Brands will thus be able to sell directly to the end user through the famous photographic social network. The mode, introduced last year in the United States, in addition to Italy also lands in 7 other countries: Canada, Brazil, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Spain and Australia.
Shopping is available for all business profiles that sell physical products and have a Facebook storefront or catalog in Business Manager. It will be possible to create and post content directly to the organic feed by adding a simple tag with product information and direct link to the purchase page. This will establish a virtual storefront available 24 hours a day, from which to sell directly. The user, in fact, stays within the platform and then gets linked to the brand's website. This eliminates a central step and one that led to the dispersion of users: the online search for the brand. This is because Instagram's blog states that in an internal survey it was found that most purchases from mobile take at least a day, while only 21 percent of purchases are made within a day.
Let's see how it works in detail
It works like a tag, so users can click on a post that uses Shopping by displaying a pop-up with the item name and price. One is linked to a page within Instagram with more information in descriptions and a "Buy Now" button that directs directly to the ecommerce. In addition, the social network said that in the future it will be possible to sponsor Shopping posts to users who do not follow the brand. From its blog, the company also announced that product recommendations, ways in which products are shown to shoppers, and global expansion will be implemented.
How to get started?
The Shopping service, as mentioned, is available for all business profiles that have a Facebook page connected with a storefront or catalog in Business Manager and, of course, the latest updated version of Instagram. First you need to enable Shopping mode and associate a product catalog. You can do this either directly from your profile from the ad that appears at the top or through the settings. You can tag products in new and existing posts, up to 5 for single image posts or 20 in carousels. The process is super simple, after adding caption, effects and filters, just tap on the products you want to tag in the photo. Here you proceed to enter the names of the products to be tagged and then select them as they appear in the search box.
Why was Shopping born?
Jim Squires, Head of Business at Instagram said, "People come to Instagram every day to discover and purchase products from their favorite companies. We want it to be a seamless experience. Whether it's a local artisan, a florist or a clothing store."
Alberto Mazzieri, Industry Manager at Facebook Italy, also followed, who commented, "Instagram has always been a place where people discover new brands and products. Shopping on Instagram guarantees brands another way to create valuable connections with the community, and we look forward to seeing how companies in Italy will take advantage of the opportunities offered by this new feature."
It is no secret that for some time now Instagram has been increasingly becoming the social media of choice for brands related to the world of fashion and lifestyle. In fact, there are about 25 million Business profiles globally. Let's also consider that 80 percent of users follow at least one company, more than 200 million people visit a business profile every day, and 1 third of the most popular Stories on Instagram are just from brands. One can quickly see that the arrival of this dedicated shopping feature was almost inevitable.
Moreover, the decision to launch Shopping was also made following an analysis of users' purchasing behavior. The data speaks for itself, in fact, according to Facebook IQ's "Fashion Path to Purchase" research, 39% of people in the past 3 months have purchased fashion items from smartphones or tablets. So the company set out to provide the best seamless shopping experience for consumers and businesses, especially on mobile devices. Finally, it is not surprising that more than 84% of smartphone users in the United States look at, search, and compare products via a Web browser or mobile app.
Shopping on Instagram, in fact, fits into what has now become our shopping habits with the advent of mobile devices. Shopping has changed dramatically when you think about it. We look at products while waiting to sit at the table, shop on the way to work, and compare prices online when we are in a store to find out what the best deal is.
And are you ready to sell or shop on Instagram?
