What is Instagram Shop?
Instagram Shop is an impressive feature that enables users to curate a personalized feed of social content and seamlessly add shoppable product tags to their posts. This feature helps businesses to improve their customers’ shopping experiences by making their purchase process simpler and more visually appealing.
Statistically speaking, Instagram shopping has helped businesses increase their website traffic by 1,416%.
Now that you know what Instagram shop means, we would like to distinguish between Instagram shop and shoppable Instagram, another related term.
Is Instagram Shop Same As Shoppable Instagram?
Instagram Shop and Shoppable Instagram are similar concepts but are vastly different in their nature. Both the terms have the same finish line, yet they differ in their practices.
Let’s find out about them in detail:
1. Instagram Shop
Instagram Shop is a feature of the platform that lets users, particularly businesses, turn their Instagram accounts into digital storefronts. With this functionality, users can easily upload their e-commerce product catalog through the Meta Commerce Manager and enable shoppable capabilities on their Instagram account.
Instagram Shop is an immersive feature that lets customers shop seamlessly within the platform through sources like in-feed images and videos, reels, and stories.
However, there are a few mandatory requirements to enable this feature for your business.
The criteria include:
- If Instagram Shop is supported in your location.
- If your business meets Instagram’s Commerce Eligibility Requirements.
- If your company has a legitimate e-commerce website to sell products.
2. Shoppable Instagram
Shoppable Instagram is a broader concept that allows users to take their Instagram content and make it shoppable on another e-commerce touchpoint, such as the brand’s website.
This shoppable functionality can be stated as a form of social commerce as it allows businesses to utilize their presence on social media in a way that drives revenue, reduces website bounce rate and induces sales.
The advantage of a shoppable Instagram is that there are no limitations to who can use this feature. Any business with an account on Instagram and a Facebook page can create a shoppable gallery and integrate it.
How Can I Integrate Instagram Shop On My Website?
You can integrate Instagram Shop on your website very easily. Businesses can rely on a social commerce platform to achieve this. Firstly, the brand needs to collect content from Instagram, curate a feed of social content and add product tags to the content.
This feed can be seamlessly integrated into e-commerce touchpoints such as, the website’s homepage, product pages, checkout pages, or even emails!
What Are The Features Of Instagram Shop?
Instagram Shop offers several benefits for both businesses and users. Here are some of the key advantages of using Instagram Shop:
1. Simplified Product Discovery
Over 40% of customers abandon their carts due to a complicated and lengthy product discovery process. Fortunately, Instagram Shop is known to simplify customers’ product discovery process considerably.
Customers can easily find entire product lookbooks, take inspiration from them, and purchase directly from the content, minimizing the overall purchase time.
2. Utilizes Authentic Social Content
Instagram Shop leverages the authenticity of social content. It allows businesses to showcase their products in the context of real-life situations through user-generated content. This helps build trust and credibility as potential customers can see how products are used and appreciated by others in their everyday lives.
And with this gained trust also comes more confident purchases. When customers trust your brand, they feel confident enough to make bigger investments with your brand, ultimately getting more revenue for you.
3. Improves Brand Visibility
By participating in Instagram Shop, businesses can enhance their brand’s visibility. The feature provides an opportunity to showcase their products in a more visually appealing way.
This increased exposure can help build brand recognition and connect with potential customers who may not have discovered the brand otherwise.
4. Makes Shopping More Convenient
Instagram Shop offers a convenient shopping experience. Users can learn about product details, see pricing, and make purchases without navigating to a different landing page.
In fact, customers can see details of multiple products through a single click and jump directly to the product’s landing page. This feature streamlines the purchasing process, reducing friction and making shopping more convenient and efficient for users.
Conclusion
There has been a notable shift in marketing trends. One of the most prominent shifts, however, remains the rise of visual commerce. Since Instagram’s image-only conceptualization, people have become more inclined towards visual content, especially when it comes to shopping.
The inception of Instagram Shopping has brought about a tremendous transformation in the e-commerce industry and a major chunk of the credit goes to people’s growing need to feel satisfied through visuals before making a purchase commitment.
