Instagram Announces Removal of Livestream Shopping Elements

Even though it was seen as one of the best ways to make more money on social media in the west, it looks like live shopping on Instagram is not becoming as popular as many people thought it would. This is in contrast to how well it is doing in Asian markets.

According to?TechCrunch:

“Starting 16 March 2023, Instagram users will no longer be able to tag products while livestreaming - a capability that has been broadly available to U.S. businesses and creators since 2020.”

The change brings to light the challenges that the American market has had in terms of achieving success with livestream shopping. However, there are other ways businesses can still showcase their products/service. And as per Instagram, "You will still be able to set up and run your shop on Instagram as we continue to invest in shopping experiences for people and businesses across feed, stories, reels, ads and more."

How live-selling on Instagram helped businesses

To take a quick look back on how IG live-selling helped shoppers, here are what brands and businesses were able to do:

• They were able to educate your audience, offer suggestions and evaluations, perform product demos, and answer questions in order to assist customers in developing the confidence that their product was the best one for them.
• They were given the opportunity to demonstrate new items. Live was the best method to broadcast the most recent and cutting-edge content from their brand, along with updates that fuelled demand in the here and now.
• They worked with other content creators and partnered with other businesses to provide live broadcasts that drove sales. Also, they displayed the results of product collaboration.

Every Instagram business account that had checkout capabilities could make use of Instagram Live Shopping. These accounts had the ability to tag a product from their catalogue so that it would show at the bottom of the screen. Then, during a live broadcast, people could check out their products.

Why Instagram bid goodbye to the feature

Many social media platforms have dabbled in live-stream shopping, including Pinterest, YouTube, and Instagram, but none have found the same level of popularity as their Chinese counterparts.?

On Verdict, Kurt Robson wrote:?

"Despite the ubiquity of platforms, solutions and influencers, the high levels of instant gratification provided with live mobile shopping in China has so far failed to materialise in the west. The attempts to copy the Chinese live shopping success have had mixed results so far. Even Asian platform TikTok seems to struggle to copy its Chinese success."

Live shopping in China has become very popular since 2016. That's when it all started. It was around that time that Alibaba, a massive Chinese corporation comparable to Amazon, began "a new chapter in sales."

However, according to Jake Ward, a business development director at the live-streaming firm Groovy Gecko, there are already fundamental variations between the live shopping market in the United Kingdom and those of other markets. These disparities may be seen even in the early phases of the industry.

One can infer that the Chinese way, where influencers sell directly to their audiences, could not be suitable for businesses located in the UK (or other Western countries). It is also heavily dependent on the influencers that were engaged and the magnitude of their following. Nonetheless, live shopping undeniably enables companies to strengthen their ties with their customers, which in turn increases engagement and lowers the barrier between buyers and sellers.

Instagram Shop is still here

The Instagram Shop feature still enables businesses to continue selling products directly on the platform. They can sell through the use of videos, photographs, reels, stories, and advertisements.

With this feature, customers are able to purchase items offered by a business using Instagram's in-app browser with just a single tap. This eliminates the need for customers to be routed to a new window, which results in a more streamlined purchasing experience.

If you're a business owner who has used the live-selling feature of Instagram, you don't have to worry about it going away. As a social media marketing agency in Leicestershire, we advise making the most out of the IG Shop feature. With it, you'll be able to give your customers uncomplicated access to the things you sell and make it simpler for your business to expand within the context of the internet market.

Here are the main benefits of utilising IG Shop for your business:

• It makes the overall shopping experience easier.
• It lets you create authentic advertising.
• It gives a perfect chance to use Instagram influencer marketing.
• It complements visual marketing very well.
• It makes your products more discoverable.

Conclusion

Even though Meta claims that they are putting more of their attention on Instagram advertisements, we are not yet aware of what this entails. Yet, for the time being, advertisers might need to modify their strategy. The removal of live-stream shopping elements should be a motivation for them to be more visually creative and willing to collaborate with influencers.

Other Social Media Marketing Resources

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