No matter the endeavor, anyone who is looking to attract long-term attention must specialize in convenience. Thanks to its 1 billion active monthly users, Instagram has come to enhance its plans to land more of that engrossed pull, with Promo Marketing last year having taken a late-summer look at the site’s growing reliance on e-commerce capabilities. Exactly six months since our first examination, here we are again, as Instagram today rolled out a checkout feature that respects consumers’ calls for convenience, scores connections with notable retailers and makes us ponder if promo distributors could one day join the likes of Burberry, Nike and Uniqlo in marketing products through the social networking platform.
Today, we're introducing checkout on Instagram. When you find a product you love, you can now buy it without leaving the app. 🛍💕https://t.co/o1L5WsfgVE pic.twitter.com/IlVJxOr10x
— Instagram (@instagram) March 19, 2019
As Fortune notes, not that long ago, Instagram served as sort of a vanity site, hosting mostly selfies and images of family members, friends and food. That identity is simply not suitable enough anymore, as the thriving social media site, like any company worth its salt, wants to increase its global revenue through partnerships. The Fortune account notes that 23 such allies, who will pay undisclosed fees per transaction, are going to benefit from the in-app selling feature, an innovation that will keep goods-hungry users from having to make a direct visit to the retailers’ websites.
“By streamlining the process of purchasing things within its mobile app, Instagram hopes to become your own personalized, digital mall,” wrote Wired, which adds that shoppable posts draw attention from more than 130 million users each month. That tally represents a very decent chunk of Instagram’s total devotees, so it makes great business sense to introduce the in-app feature as a way for their taps to translate into quick sales.
More retailers will join the aforementioned brands and their distinguished peers in the near future, as Instagram, much like Snapchat, makes its push toward gaining e-commerce supremacy. That impending implementation has us wondering if promo distributors will one day be able to likewise benefit from this bit of novelty. It seems like a good fit, especially for distributors that already sell largely online. It also seems like an ideal way for brands of all sizes to sell branded merch directly to social media followers, perhaps leading to a small uptick in promotional products purchasing. Fortune and Wired say only that Instagram is going to be busy this year with adding retailers and shopping features, so that vagueness is cause to spark any business-centric imagination.
As we speculate, we wonder if you would welcome the opportunity to have your products featured on Instagram. What do you think of the possibilities here?
