Buying Through Social Media – Are We Entering The Era Of Social Shopping?

As more consumers turn to smartphones to shop, brands of all sizes are thinking about mobile commerce strategies and how to take advantage of shopping features on popular social media platforms.

We came across research about one of the most popular social media platforms – Instagram, and how you can buy from your favourite brands through the app. This intrigued us to find out more…

Instagram allows users to use their in-app checkout function to purchase an item. Their new shopping feature, launched in March 2018 and allows brands to tag up to five products in a post. Then, when users click on the tags, they can see additional information about the product. This includes an image, product description and price information.

Cosmetic beauty brands like Huda Beauty have jumped on the ‘in-app purchasing’ bandwagon. Brands like Zara have joined in on the Instagram check-out feature. The company allows people to either use the Insta check-out or be directed straight to their website to purchase the exact items displayed in their post.

Social Media Advertisement

It’s not just the Instagram ‘in app check-out feature’ that drives sales for brands. Using other social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest, companies have the opportunity to advertise their products/services. When an individual clicks through to the social media ad, it will automatically direct them to the company website.

According to last year’s survey, 74% of people now follow brands on social media – and 96% of those who do follow brands also interact with them on social platforms.

“Social media makes people feel closer to a brand, and it makes people trust a brand,” said Scott Levy, CEO of Fuel Online, an SEO and digital marketing agency. “The whole idea is not to use social media as a selling platform but to provide value to people.”