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A new selling feature on photo-sharing social media app, Instagram, has been ignored by more than 80% of retailers in its first week, according to Cybertill.
Instagram rolled out a new ‘Shopping’ feature to business accounts in the United Kingdom, as well as Germany France, Italy Brazil, Canada, Spain and Australia last week, but just 8% of UK brands have made use of the photo tags which drive followers to buy ‘Instagrammed’ goods online.
The new feature allows users to tap tags and see prices, then link through to the retailer’s website, with the help of a brand new ‘Shop Now’ button. Previously, users would have been directed to a ‘Link in bio’ – disrupting the user journey.
Research by Cybertill found that only 8% of UK brands have made use of Instagram Shopping including New Look, Screwfix, Miss Selfridge and River Island. None of the top five retailers in the UK including ASOS, ASDA, Tesco, Argos, Next have yet enabled the feature.
Of the retailers that do not have the Instagram Shopping feature enabled, 7% encourage the consumer to go in-store, 19% encourage consumers to click the link in the retailer’s Instagram bio, 19% encourage the consumer to search for product code on the website, the rest do not actively promote ‘buy’ calls to action from Instagram.
Ian Tomlinson, CEO of Cybertill said: “Retailers shouldn’t be precious about selling channels. Smart retailers move quickly to offer consumers what they want, when they want it. Experiential retailing is essential to winning over hearts and minds of consumers.
“Instagram is about as experiential as e-commerce can get. Instagram has always been a very good platform for selling, without the tools to do so effectively. That’s all changed now and retailers need to get with the program, or else be left behind.”
