Instagram launches shopping features in Australia

Internet Retailing

20th Mar 2018

Australian retailers using BigCommerce now have access to shopping features on Instagram, thanks to a collaboration between the e-commerce platform and social media network.

Retailers are now able to tag products in Instagram posts, making contextual information such as pricing and product descriptions accessible with a single tap, enriching product discovery without leaving the app. Users can also reach the product page on the retailer’s website via the tags, streamlining the checkout process.

Jordan Sim, group product manager at BigCommerce, said these features enable brands and retailers to do more than just generate awareness on the Facebook-owned photo-sharing app, they can tap into social commerce.

“With the arrival of shopping on Instagram, brands now have a powerful feature to bring product discovery and sales conversion even closer together. And with Instagram being one of the world’s fastest-growing and dominant social platforms today, retailers will not want to miss out on this growth opportunity,” he said.

Instagram has more than 800 million users, and more than 500 million people are active on the platform every day. Sixty per cent of users say they discover new products through the app. Businesses that target millennials, such as HiSmile and Showpo, attribute much of their success to their presence on the social media network.

Shopping on Instagram has been available to some US retailers BigCommerce as part of a limited beta since October 2017, but today’s announcement means businesses in Australia also gain access to the features.

In just five months, BigCommerce merchants using the shopping features have seen a 50 per cent increase in Instagram referral traffic to their site, further demonstrating the social channel’s ability to support a more engaging shopping experience.

Besides Australia and the US, the shopping features are also available to retailers in the UK, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Spain.