Instagram is testing new advertising features to further develop social e-commerce

Social platforms can be said to be an important battlefield for cross-border e-commerce . By analyzing user portraits, social platforms can accurately place sellers' products. In this way, the conversion rate of advertisements is also high. For this reason, many social platforms are also increasing their investment in e-commerce businesses, including Instagram .

Instagram is testing new advertising features on Instagram Shop , which the company launched last year with the goal of making Instagram not only a place to connect with friends and follow favorite brands, but also an online shopping destination with an integrated checkout experience.

On the Instagram Shop homepage, users can click on the ad to open the product detail page, get product information, pictures , and visit other products of the brand. In addition, users can also save products to wish lists and share with friends.

Ads in Instagram Shop will be based on an auction model , the company said . The ads will only appear on mobile devices .

Currently, this feature is still in the testing phase, and only a small number of US advertisers can participate in the test, including Away, Donny Davy, Boo Oh, Clare Paint, JNJ Gifts, DEUX and Fenty Beauty. These brands cover categories popular with users, such as beauty, home decoration, pet products, and travel.

Instagram has not yet disclosed the specific launch date of the new feature, but said it plans to expand the new feature to advertisers in other non-U.S. markets in the coming months.

In addition to Instagram , Tiktok and Twitter are also promoting the "social + e-commerce" model. Tiktok opened the advertising function as early as 2019 and created many popular products.

At the end of July this year, Twitter also announced that it would begin testing a new module called "Shop Module". This feature will allow brands, companies and other retailers to display products to users directly on their corporate profile pages. Users will be able to scroll through the product images in the module and click on the products of interest to open the relevant website on Twitter to learn more about the products and make purchases.

According to data released by eMarketer, social e-commerce sales in the United States increased by 39% year-on-year in 2020, and this figure is expected to increase by about 36% this year to reach US$36.62 billion. Faced with such a huge market, it is not difficult to understand why social platforms want to increase their investment in e-commerce business.

However, as the social platform became more "commercialized," it also lost some users. In the eyes of these users, new features like Instagram Shop have moved further and further away from simple photo sharing.

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Social e-commerce