Over the past year, Instagram has slowly introduced a series of shopping features, including product tagging and links directly to e-commerce websites. Over in the US, Instagram is finally debuting it’s ultimate retail tool: the checkout! The new tool lets consumers pay for products in the Istagram app, and they are using 23 brands, including Nike, Adidas and Zara, as part of a closed beta to trial this new feature.
According to Instagram, 130 million people tap on posts to see the shopping tags and where products are from. With the new checkout tool, consumers will see a “checkout on Instagram” button appear when tapping on those tags. Instagram is allowing consumers to pay in three different ways: saving their payment information on the app, entering it during checkout or paying with PayPal. Layla Amjadi, Shopping Product Manager at Instagram, said
“We wanted to take the time to get it right and to make sure checkout was fitting very well. It’s something that folks have been asking for us quite some time.”
As far as data goes, brands are only receiving contact information and shipping addresses, but Instagram is also offering an option for consumers to share their email. Instagram is working with partners like Shopify and BigCommerce to roll out the experience.
Instagram has proven to help merchants see incredible success using integrations with shopping on Instagram to covert fans and followers into loyal customers. So now this latest capability allows brands to continue doing just that without the risk of losing sales by asking consumers to shift to another platform to check out. Jimmy Duvall, chief product officer at BigCommerce mentioned
“The ability to go all the way through the social commerce journey and complete a purchase right there in the app makes [Instagram’s] evolution to a vibrant next-generation marketplace complete.”
TBP believe this may change the behaviour of the typical Instagram user, from content creator to shopper. A single channel that already owns so much of our viewing time and derives revenue through advertising, will now start to own our shopping time also.Our CEO Byron Rawlings, believes
“This is great news for influencer marketing and brands alike as this will finally allow them to drive direct purchases all from within Instagram. It's game-changing and it will clearly be a huge revenue stream for Instagram as sellers will pay a fee. It's also a huge shift in social ecommerce."
What are your thoughts on the new Instagram Checkout feature?
TBP x
