Back in October, we announced that Shopify and Instagram were joining forces to allow Instagram users to shop directly from the app, in the United States. That collaboration has now gone worldwide, as the social network platform launches UK Instagram shopping, which creates huge potential for your eCommerce business.
Born In The USA
Last year, the USA-born social media app, Instagram, launched a “new shopping experience” that enabled businesses to tag products in their organic Instagram posts. Instagram was keen to trial this previous no-no, and limited the feature to America, later rolling it out to selected UK brands.
Take Off To The UK (& More)
Luckily, the trial was a huge success and Instagram have now launched shoppable tags to eight more countries: Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK.
Why Is This Good News?
Founded back in 2010, Instagram is the photo and video-based sharing application that has taken the world by storm. With over 500 million daily active users, 25 million businesses and 80% of users following at least one of those businesses, Instagram has huge engagement potential, allowing mobile users to easily interact with brands and influencers. But converting that engagement into sales was difficult because the app prevented URLs from appearing in photo captions – until now.
This new feature will allow businesses to ‘tag’ products in their photos and add a ‘Shop Now’ button to transport users from Instagram directly to the product page. This makes it easy for online shoppers to “go from inspiration to information and purchase in just a few taps” – turning your Instagram account into a virtual storefront and providing you with another avenue to connect with potential customers, build your brand and increase sales.
Instagram says that this offers users an ‘immersive shopping experience’, which providers them with the space and time to browse and become inspired before purchasing.
How Does It Work?
In order to get involved, you will need an Instagram Business Account and approved Facebook Shop – Once you have these, install the Facebook and Instagram channels to your Shopify store. You will then be able to ‘tag’ up to five products per image and add a ‘Shop Now’ tab to your Instagram profile page. Users clicking these will be taken to a page showing more information, and then onto the product page on your website.
Instagram also provides real-time metrics to monitor your success.
From Post To Post
Integrating your eCommerce business’ social media posts with your website is just one step to making eCommerce selling easier. Adding multichannel management software to the mix makes the whole process even simpler by connecting your website with your online marketplaces and allowing you to manage listings, orders, inventory, shipping and reporting from one central location: From post to post.
About Expandly
Expandly is multichannel management software that allows you to manage your eCommerce website, alongside your other marketplaces, all from one central location.