Pinterest and Instagram are soon going to make social shopping a reality. The two networks are both working on ways to make the online shopping experience easier on consumers while on their sites.
The changes should also make it easy for community managers and advertisers to show a return on investment.
Social Shopping on Pinterest
Pinterest announced Buyable Pins are coming to their site. At launch, Pinterest will feature brands like Macy’s, Neiman Marcus, Michaels, Cole Haan and Nordstrom. Other businesses that use Shopify or Demandware will also have the ability to activate Buyable Pins.
Pinterest states Buyable Pins are mobile friendly, safe and secure. They will be available on iPhone and iPad at launch, but won’t be available on Android or desktop until future releases.
Buyable Pins still let you control the shopping experience—Pinterest doesn’t take a cut from your sales and you still get to handle shipping and customer service the way you always have.
Social Shopping on Instagram
Instagram is set to begin testing on direct response formats. In an effort to help advertisers drive business results, the new formats encourage users to “Shop”, “Install”, “Sign Up”, and “Learn More.” This will give and advertisers the ability to drive consumers directly to their website or app from their sponsored content.
Instagram says this direct response feature will not only help advertisers, but the community as well, as people will be able to learn about a product or service and then take action directly from an ad to sign up on a website, buy a product, or download an app.
This feature will reduce the number of clicks required for a user to make a purchase. Currently, you can “click the link in bio” and it will drive you to the company’s page, but you can’t make in-app purchases.
What are your thoughts about social shopping? Do you think this will be good for advertisers? What other opportunities do you think these network changes will open?