Instagram "SHOP" Tab and The E-Commence Game Goes On...
The e-commerce game is still alive and kicking, evolving for sure. Instagram seems determined to take large and small E-commerce business on a ride and keep everyone on their feet. The game is officially about to begin, everything before has just been the warm-up; I only say this because shopping will now be 3-4 clicks away from your favourite platform, not 3-4 clicks after you land on the brand's website. Now it will just be on Instagram.
Back in May Instagram announced Instagram Shop tab which will allow users to shop directly from the app but with a dedicated location on the app navigation bar. It might sound like the Instagram Reel announcement but this is much bigger, especially for us in the trading/e-commerce side of marketing as it is a declaration that Instagram is doubling down on its e-commerce eligibility and desire to become THE app across all social platforms where people can scroll and shop too.
Instagram Shop tab allows Instagram users to shop from top brands and creators via a new tab in the app’s navigation bar with just one tap. Users will be able to filter products by categories, as they can today via the existing Shop experience within Instagram Explore.
As seen in the below images:
As explained by Instagram:
"Instagram Shop is an in-app shopping destination where people can discover products and brands they love from across Instagram. Today, we have started public testing of Instagram Shop in the US and will expand globally in the coming weeks."
Another image showcasing how it looks directly from a brand's page
This is the game-changer as you can see on the above images, shopping directly on Instagram is a click away. Making the user experience as seamless as it could be.
The new Shop listings will highlight personalized product recommendations for each user, based on the accounts they follow and the businesses that are using Instagram's product listings. This will eventually see a significant increase in buyable product listings in the app.
This will lead retailers to consider their Instagram shop options. If you're looking to get your products featured within this new listing, approved businesses can tag products in their Instagram posts, which will then help them reach interested users via Instagram's recommendations algorithm as mentioned by SocialMediaToday.
To give a bit of a back story: a couple of years back, Instagram made its debut into the digital shopping/E-commerce world with Instagram Shopping which as stated by Instagram themselves "gives [brands] an immersive storefront for people to explore your best products." With Instagram Shopping, you can share featured products through your organic posts and stories, or have people discover products in search and explore section. As seen in the below examples:
Taking you directly to the product page on the brand's site
or directly checking out on IG (limited to some regions)
It's also worth adding Instagram chief Adam Mosseri introduction to the next phase of IG as he stating on Tweeter
"We’re starting to test different versions of Instagram’s home screen – when you open the app you’ll soon see a Reels tab and a Shop tab in one of these three layouts."
with below image
Some have argued that it will only make things more complex, but it's all speculation since only users can decide what is easy or complex and it's the business responsibility to react as people want or double down for a greater goal. However, we have to keep in mind that Instagram always made sure it remains a seamless and an apple OS app like.
In conclusion, I can say that Instagram Shop tab is keeping the game alive and reshaping e-commerce, shopping digitally is the norm and accompanying it with seamless customer experience is the only move forward (since it has become a 3-4 clicks complete purchase game).
Once Instagram Shop tab will be launched, which is expected before the end of the year. I will drop an article on how we can make the most of it.
