The Next Wave of E-Commerce

E-commerce is a constantly evolving landscape — so much so that it can be hard to keep up. Here’s a quick overview of the latest and greatest e-commerce options for brands.

Instagram’s E-Commerce Shake Up

According to studies, 90 million accounts on Instagram tap on a shopping-centric post to learn more about products every month. The newly introduced Shopping on Instagram feature gives users a more straightforward, in-app path from inspiration to purchase. It’s as simple as seeing, tapping, and shopping.

How It Works: Think of your Instagram account as a visual storefront, with a range of customizable elements. You can tag up to five products per image (or up to twenty products per carousel) and add those cool, eye-catching Insta features, such as filters, captions and stickers. According to the platform, when you create an Instagram post with tagged products, “the post will be shared with your Instagram audience and Explore, where 200 million accounts visit daily.”

The Explore tab offers greater exposure. Your shopping posts will reach people who demonstrate a strong interest in shopping, and potential interest in your brand or products. Even more, Instagram Stories now boasts an elevated shopping experience. That’s good news, since nearly 400 million users watch Stories – and engagement levels are through the roof. “Businesses using shopping on Instagram can now use product stickers in Instagram Stories in addition to product tags in Instagram posts,” Instagram reports. “With product stickers in Instagram Stories, users can quickly access product information and shop seamlessly.”

Pinning Power

 Pinterest is an e-commerce powerhouse, with more than 250 million monthly active users. What’s more, 93 percent of those pinners say they use the platform to plan purchases. The Pinterest Shop the Look Pins has been around for a while now, but it was only available to large businesses. Until now. Starting this month, all SMBs and influencers can manually tag items with Shop the Look Pins.

How It Works: With Shop the Look Pins, people can find and buy products via fashion and home decor Pins. Users can identify Shop the Look Pins from the white dots that call out different parts of the look. Then they can tap the dots to shop each item. When they’re ready to buy, your customers can click through to your site to check out. Added bonus: Shop the Look is mobile- and web-friendly, so users can make their purchase however they choose.