Omnichain Solutions in the News: In March, Instagram publicly announced a new e-commerce feature. Rather than tagging items in posts and redirecting interested parties to an online shop, “Checkout on Instagram” enables brands to sell products to users directly inside the app. The promise is that companies can minimize any extra steps in the transaction process, and therefore decrease the likelihood of abandoned shopping carts. Furthermore, they can better capture consumer interest — while they’re heavily engaged on social media — and thereby increase sales conversions.
Currently, more than 20 brands are beta testing the feature, including Adidas, Burberry, Dior, MAC Cosmetics, Prada, Warby Parker, and Uniqlo. Among these select brands, Adidas has already been generating results. CEO Kasper Rørsted shared on the brand’s earnings call that, in the first quarter of 2019, online sales saw a 40 percent year-over-year jump, which he largely attributes to the new Checkout feature and product launches via the Instagram app.
As the lines between social media and e-commerce blur and Instagram Checkout becomes more widely available, how can brands take full advantage of the exciting new feature and all that it promises? The answer lies in the metrics.