Visually rich social content produces ‘shoppable’ experiences for retailers
Photo: Burberry/Instagram
Through a special arrangement, presented here for discussion is an excerpt of a current article from the Retail TouchPoints website.
Visually oriented platforms, led for now by Instagram, are helping retailers generate traffic, brand awareness and more sales on social channels.
Some of Instagram’s strong growth potential comes from the platform’s efforts to improve “shoppability,” an area where social networks as a whole have lagged. As many as 78 percent of retailers in the apparel, department store, big box and specialty sectors — and 41 percent of 400+ brands — have shoppable Instagram accounts, according to the 2018 Gartner L2 Social Platforms and Influencers Intelligence Report. That compares to 17 percent of brands and 29 percent of retailers with shoppable Facebook pages.
Burberry is one of the latest retailers to launch an Instagram campaign to reach younger consumers. On the seventeenth day of every month, limited-edition releases will be made available for 24 hours on Instagram. The items will not be available in stores or on Burberry.com.
“Culturally, there’s the idea of FOMO, or getting in on something while you can,” said Laura Davis-Taylor, principal consultant of Retail Experience Strategy at HighStreet Collective, in an interview. “It’s 24 hours and you’re out.”
Instagram in June launched IGTV, supporting longer-form videos that could be a major selling point for retailers seeking more context exposure.
During a Gartner L2 panel discussion, Scott Lux, VP of digital at Intermix, noted that retailers must have a “publishing mindset” when approaching social media, particularly given Instagram’s growth. In an age when retailers must commit to content-driven initiatives across all channels, investments in production studio talent remain imperative for retailers seeking to create compelling visuals for social channels that thrive on them.
“There’s a headline I read in an email newsletter that basically said: ‘Instagram killed the fashion magazine,’” Mr. Lux noted. “That sums up the challenge that brands are facing. Now we’re having to create ‘fashion magazine’-type content to push to our paid and organic channels through Instagram. That’s where it’s difficult, because you don’t necessarily have that editorial talent on staff and you have to make that determination — do you build to that or do you leave that to your brand partners?”