Have you ever seen the look on a shopper's face when they are able to buy "now!' what they've seen and like? It's broad smiles, eyes opened wide and perhaps a chuckle. It's a seamless shopping experience now available digitally. They can simply tap on the item they've seen to make an immediate purchase, saving a litany of swipes and clicks. Welcome to the world of shoppable posts! If you've not added this shopping experience into your social and digital marketing strategy, start working on it now. Why?
Every day, 500 million accounts look at an Instagram story and monthly, 130 million people tap on a post to discover more about a product they've seen (1). In Australia, retail giants Country Road and Myer have integrated shoppable posts into their digital marketing strategy. It is believed this facility is highly appropriate here. Incy Interiors, for example, recorded a 5% uplift in online sales over a 2-weeks trial period (2). Although it's early days yet, the signs are promising. So, how can you get started?
1. Connect to your store or catalogue
It's the first step in creating a new shopping journey for your followers. Simply tag the products you feature on your Instagram marketing feed to your online store or catalogue. You can do up to 5 products or 20 if you use carousel posts. To learn how you can do this effectively, check out the guide given by Instagram (3).
The quality of the images you post is important. Do not simply mimic your catalogue or online store. Instagram remains to be a collection of beautiful pictures and people online.
2. From stories to purchases
Instagram stories have proven to be a hit for brands, especially small businesses. Well-communicated and engaging stories increase the disposition followers may have to make a purchase. After all, purchase behaviour has a strong emotional dimension too.
By simply tapping on a product sticker, they can learn more about the product in the story and eventually buy it. More importantly, especially if you do not have a big following just yet, stories tend to go viral faster. You can potentially reach a wider shopping audience.
3. AR is coming to shoppable posts
It's literally a fitting room at your fingertips! For some, learning more about the featured product may not be sufficient. They would like to try it on. With an AR featured integrated into the shopping experience, they can. This feature gives greater empowerment to shoppers. They can decide to buy or not based on how it will look on them instead of relying on just the product information shared.
Shoppable posts build on the well-known fact Instagram is a collection of beautiful people and posts. It's the first port of call in the connected consumers' desire to be aesthetically entertained. Making it possible to buy them is a natural extension of this behaviour. Hence, it is a captive audience. To learn more about it, get in touch today.
(1) https://www.facebook.com/business/instagram/shopping
(2) https://www.smartcompany.com.au/marketing/social-media/shoppable-instagram-posts-australia-how-retailers-use-new-function
(3) https://www.facebook.com/business/instagram/shopping/guide
