Week of November 7, 2016

eCommerce Updates

Image Source: http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/instagram-letting-brands-test-taggable-buyable-products-photos-174365

Instagram is beginning to test a new feature that allows brands to tag organic posts as an item for sale.

The new tagging allows brands to link their posts directly to their retail site so when users are browsing a post, they can highlight over products to see items they can actually buy.

Upon clicking on the highlighted product, users will be brought to a page where the brand can drive interest back to their site.

Source: http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/instagram-let-ting-brands-test-taggable-buyable-products-photos-174365

Instagram is beginning to test out the feature in partnerships with Kate Spade, J. Crew, Warby Parker and Macy’s.

Instagram noted that from testing, they do not plan on sharing any revenue retail brands may make from the new tagging feature.

Source: http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/instagram-let-ting-brands-test-taggable-buyable-products-photos-174365

Instagram’s long-term strategy is to create value to their user community, but also create value to their brand users and partners from a businessperspective. Retail brands are excited to test out the feature, hoping to expand selling on social media.

Instagram also plans to expand the feature to allow users to save products for later, noting that most shopping decisions are not made within the first day of seeing a product/ad.

Source: http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/instagram-let-ting-brands-test-taggable-buyable-products-photos-174365

What this means for brands:

What this means for marketers:

This is huge for retail brands, or any brand trying to sell a physical product. The addition of the tagging feature gives brands the opportunity to directly sell on a whole new channel. It will also be important to see how Instagramplans on expanding the feature into other ecommerce offerings.

If all goes well with the beta testing, marketers need to add Instagram to their list when considering selling and advertising on social media.The ability to be able to sell products directly on the app is hopefullygoing to be life-changing for brands.