Instagram Rolls Out Shopping in Stories
This week, Instagram announced the roll out of a shoppable video feature, allowing its audience to shop directly from Instagram Stories. MarketWatch reports the shoppable videos enable retailers to add shopping “stickers” to the images that users can then click on if they wish to learn more about the product or the merchandise. In addition, the Facebook-owned social media site said it would be implementing a dedicated shopping category within the “Explore” tab. Users will then be able to see shopping-related posts from brands they follow, as well as brands’ Instagram feeds that are similar and/or relevant.
Total Retail’s Take: It was only a matter of time before Instagram offered a commerce feature, as the image-heavy platform is conducive to shopping. Social competitor Pinterest has already introduced an e-commerce component to its platform. According to the Verge, shoppable Stories is just the first step for Instagram in its move to e-commerce. It's rumored the social platform will be rolling out a separate shopping app altogether. With nearly 25 million businesses having Instagram accounts, this could be a real game changer for e-commerce.
