Instagram introduces ads in Instagram Shop
Instagram have today launched ads in the Instagram Shop tab globally to make it easier for users to discover and shop from brands when they’re already in the mood to browse.
These ads will appear as tiles on the Instagram Shop tab home page. Clicking on the ad will bring users to the ‘Product Details’ page where they can learn more about the item, view additional imagery, and browse additional products from the brand.
It will also allow users to save the product to a ‘Wishlist’ or ‘share it with friends’. Users can hide or report the ad with a press and hold on the tile which opens up options to take an action.
Ads will be rolling out in countries where Instagram ‘Shop’ tab is available, including Australia.
Today’s announcement details how consumers are continuing to embrace shopping online and builds on the momentum of Facebooks’ introduction of Shops, just over a year ago. Facebook launched Shops to WhatsApp, and to Marketplace on Facebook in June.
Hannah Gardner, senior associate of acquisition marketing at US-based retail brand, Away said: “I’ve found the most success running ads in an environment where the consumer is already in a shopping mindset, which the Shop tab naturally attracts. The more frequently I can get in front of the consumer in that mindset, the better my potential for ROI.”
Instagram Shop launched last year and is a dedicated shopping platform. There, users can discover and shop new trends, see the latest product drops and support small businesses – all in one place. And for sellers, this surface allows them to introduce their products to more people.
Director of retail for Facebook Australia, Kate Box, said: “Instagram and Facebook are a new Westfield. We are making the online shopping journey more personalised, more entertaining, and more seamless. Capabilities like shoppable media, branded content, social shopping and messenger for customer service are available in Australia.
Chief executive officer of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg detailed new commerce innovations and experiences for shoppers in an announcement in June.
“The first big announcement for today is [that] we’re bringing Shops to more places…. The next thing that we’re announcing that I think [will] be a pretty big deal is introducing Shops ads that [will] provide a personalised ads experience based on people’s individual shopping preferences. We’re launching the ability for a business to send shoppers to where you’re going to be most likely to make a purchase based on your shopping behaviour.”
Zuckerberg added: “A lot of shopping discovery begins with visual discovery, right, so you see something that you think is awesome. And then, you know, maybe you want to see other products that are like that, or you want to figure out how to get that product.
“And this is the type of problem that AI can really help out with. [So] one of the things we’re going to do is when you’re on Instagram…We’re getting ready to start rolling out experience and testing an experience that we’re calling visual search.”
