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Shopping coming to Instagram

blog.business.instagram.com

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Re: Shopping coming to Instagram

#41

Post by bmj »

manachar wrote: post #7

This seems like a natural way to monetize instagram for accounts that I follow. I would take this over ads any day. If I like a business enough to follow them on instagram, then I won't mind being able to purchase something from the account. For instance, I follow King Arthur Flour for their scrumptious baking recipes. It'd be great to be able to go straight to their online store to purchase some of their harder to f…

That said... will this taint the instagram experience? Youtube feels increasingly optimized for profit-making and seems be crowding out some of the more "just-for-fun" type projects. If too much of a social media site focus on profit it becomes just another mall and less of a social setting.

So, Instagram is the only social media I use (generally to share photos from our many road trips). My account is private, and I only follow people that I know in real life. I suspect this change won't affect my experience at all, because I'm not consuming much of anything aside from my friends' photos. I suspect, however, that I might be in the minority as far as Instagram user habits go...

Re: Shopping coming to Instagram

#42

Post by dawson »

There are a number of startups offering 'shoppable instagram' solutions, some quite large, and one recently acquired; though I suppose they knew it was coming. RIP, or pivot I guess.

Re: Shopping coming to Instagram

#43

Post by pbhjpbhj »

manachar wrote: post #7

This seems like a natural way to monetize instagram for accounts that I follow. I would take this over ads any day. If I like a business enough to follow them on instagram, then I won't mind being able to purchase something from the account. For instance, I follow King Arthur Flour for their scrumptious baking recipes. It'd be great to be able to go straight to their online store to purchase some of their harder to f…

>Say you want to be able to sell prints of your great photos //

This opens the printer up to potentially massive copyright infringement issues. Sharing images online is one thing, being directly paid to actualise then on offline products is a big step with a lot of potential liability.

There's already lots of competition in that space, the sites I've used for Tshirt & mug printing (in Europe) have been very hot on trademark and copyright issues, stiflingly so IMO.

There's probably much more to be made selling pictured goods over good with pictures on.

Re: Shopping coming to Instagram

#44

Post by toomanybeersies »

RodericDay wrote: post #40
toomanybeersies wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everyone and everything is manipulative. Life is all about perception. Packaging is designed to make you want to buy one thing more than another. Would as many people buy Red Bull if it was in a standard stubby can instead of the slimline can? No they wouldn't. Is it therefore unethical for Red Bull to sell their beverage in a slimline can? Is it unethical for a salesperson to talk to you? For a shop to have a sign?…

I object to advertising in principle. It causes people to become more consumerist. It exists to generate a desire to purchase stuff, usually by promoting feelings that one is missing out otherwise. Plenty of people try to sell the idea that ads let us have content "for free", and that all we have to tolerate is "a little annoyance". There's even bigger reasons to oppose them than mere convenience, though. For one, it…

Ads on websites are usually pretty clearly recognisable as ads though (except for sponsored content, which I totally agree is unethical).

Re: Shopping coming to Instagram

#45

Post by throwaway98237 »

Imagine that landline phone calls were initially free and had to be "monitized" via adverts. Or, if it ended up being the case that they couldn't be sufficiently monitized and thus were considered a "failed business model". This age of freemium is producing all sorts of wack products. Why can't I just have a phone company that adds Twitter-like functionality in my paid plan. Oh right, because even though it's all "free" it's all proprietary and incompatible.

Re: Shopping coming to Instagram

#46

Post by divanvisagie »

phmagic wrote: post #12

Perhaps an Instagram team member can answer for me: Is there a way for Instagram creators, stylists and influencers to make money by recommending products or styles? My use case: I buy clothes based on "looks / styles" and camera products based unique experiences created by other people. I'd like to pay influencers for creating such awesome content that help me discover new products.

What would be interesting is if I take a picture of lets say my "new" macbook pro and tag it. It becomes like an amazon affiliate link and I get a cut if someone buys the underpowered thing.

This would then be the only platform outside of YouTube that would then allow you to monetise the content you create directly via the platform itself.

Re: Shopping coming to Instagram

#47

Post by CamelCaseName »

RodericDay wrote: post #40
toomanybeersies wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everyone and everything is manipulative. Life is all about perception. Packaging is designed to make you want to buy one thing more than another. Would as many people buy Red Bull if it was in a standard stubby can instead of the slimline can? No they wouldn't. Is it therefore unethical for Red Bull to sell their beverage in a slimline can? Is it unethical for a salesperson to talk to you? For a shop to have a sign?…

I object to advertising in principle. It causes people to become more consumerist. It exists to generate a desire to purchase stuff, usually by promoting feelings that one is missing out otherwise. Plenty of people try to sell the idea that ads let us have content "for free", and that all we have to tolerate is "a little annoyance". There's even bigger reasons to oppose them than mere convenience, though. For one, it…

While I respect your line of thinking, I believe that advertising does improve a product substantially. It improves how you are perceived using it, it can change your experience with the product, and it can reduce the amount of time you need and give you better information about products -- especially when there are no obvious benchmarks for the industry. (E.g. clothing)

Part of advertising is educating customers on what features your product has, and doing so in an easy to understand way.

Imagine a world with no advertising. You want to buy a coat, so you search Google. There are no ads, so you just click the first link (which has done no SEO). What do you see? A picture of a coat? A list of coat 'specs'? A description of the coat?

All of these could be considered advertising (People "wasting" money on putting coats on models of different body sizes, creating different standards for clothing 'specs', and copywriting product descriptions) yet they also provide value to the customer.

So I would say that advertising has to be considered part of the product that can enhance its value.

Re: Shopping coming to Instagram

#48

Post by cyborgx7 »

CamelCaseName wrote: post #47
RodericDay wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I object to advertising in principle. It causes people to become more consumerist. It exists to generate a desire to purchase stuff, usually by promoting feelings that one is missing out otherwise. Plenty of people try to sell the idea that ads let us have content "for free", and that all we have to tolerate is "a little annoyance". There's even bigger reasons to oppose them than mere convenience, though. For one, it…

While I respect your line of thinking, I believe that advertising does improve a product substantially. It improves how you are perceived using it, it can change your experience with the product, and it can reduce the amount of time you need and give you better information about products -- especially when there are no obvious benchmarks for the industry. (E.g. clothing) Part of advertising is educating customers on…

  Imagine a world with no advertising.
I do so regularly. You wouldn't have to rely on what you saw on a billboard or a website, where the products by the company that payed the most are displayed. Instead you would consult an independant source dedicated to comparing the type of products you are looking for. Or you'd ask friends what they would recommend. You know, sources with the priority of actually pointing you at the best solution, not getting you to give them money over someone else.

With ad blockers having made a lot of people conscious about ads and their ethics, I feel like we are closer to an ad free world than ever. Personally, I can't wait.

Re: Shopping coming to Instagram

#49

Post by milge »

Hopefully this works out. I've been doing some metal fabrication lately and have thought about doing commission work in the future. I see other makers on IG selling stuff, but the experience leaves a lot to be desired.
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