Game Changer: Now You Can Shop On Instagram
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- June 3, 2015
Photo: The Styleograph/WENN
Fresh off of the success from Monday night’s CFDA Awards, Instagram is doubling down on its Media Award win by taking a bold step into e-commerce.
The social media juggernaut has already unveiled ads on the platform, which have now been around for two years, yet a new button will now be appearing below promotional images for businesses both large and small. According to New York Magazine, Instagram will feature a “Shop Now” button that will dead the need to place a link in one’s bio page.
Advertisers will also be able to target their wares based on data provided to the site. The move could generate an additional $1.3 to $2.1 billion for the company. Instagram’s ad business is proving to be successful thanks to a boost of new technology from Facebook, as the company boasts more than 300 million users and counting in its database. To compete, other apps—namely Pinterest—are adding “buy” buttons to its functionality. In the end, Instagram’s API, honed, tested, and created by Facebook, enables the company to manage, track, and measure marketing campaigns.
Advertisers and marketers can now reach users based on more than just their ages and genders, targeting interests gleaned from Facebook profiles. “We have benefitted greatly from being a part of Facebook,” James Quarles, Instagram’s global head of business and brand development, said. “It would have taken us years to build this tech stack for ourselves. So, we’re fortunate to be able to take select pieces of Facebook’s tech stack.” Back in 2012, the Mark Zuckerberg-founded company purchased the photo-sharing app for $1 billion. The decision came at a time when Twitter was biting into Facebook’s mobile game and helped the original social media network to secure a hold in the market.
Since including adverts, Instagram has ran 475 campaigns with big names like Disney, Ben and Jerry’s, Michael Kors, Taco Bell, The Gap, and Electronic Arts. Brands promoted themselves using hi-res photos, 15-second video ads, and new Gif-like cinemagraphs. However, the “Shop Now” button will now allow users to be taken outside the app to buy the products featured on the app.
“We always felt Instagram could be a really useful platform for performance advertising,” Kfir Gavrieli, founder of Tieks, a fashion brand with a large social footprint told AdWeek. “Honestly, it wasn’t clear that they ever would do this, because Instagram was all about beautiful photos and imagery. So, this was a surprise to us.”
On the following pages, we have what Twitter thinks about the Instagram shop option.
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