Instagram has played an increasingly large role in the way we shop online. According to a report by ecommerce intelligence firm Emarketer from last year, almost 64% of Instagram users surveyed said they had used the platform to make a purchase, be that instantly or after seeing a product advertised on the app.
However, despite the platform being such an influential tool in the ecommerce industry, Instagram recently announced that they will be getting rid of live shopping. The announcement came at the beginning of the year, with Instagram citing that the feature wasn’t as popular as they had hoped and failed to create the necessary shopping experiences that many people wanted.
Instagram’s Live Shopping feature allowed users to shop right from their device while watching the broadcast. However, many people found the feature confusing and difficult to use, while others voiced their concern over the fact that Instagram couldn’t guarantee the reliability of the live streams or the payments themselves.
The decision to get rid of the feature has been met with mixed reactions from the ecommerce industry. Some view Instagram’s move as a wise decision as it’s not proving popular enough and may be more of a distraction than a source of revenue. Others lament the possibilities that live shopping could have had if it had become more widely accepted.
For the moment, it’s unclear how this will impact the ecommerce industry. While it was a promising concept, clearly Instagram felt that the feature wasn’t working the way they had hoped. As such, it’s likely that companies will have to continue to look to other platforms and features, like shoppable posts, to drive sales.
In any case, Instagram’s decision to scrap live shopping has certainly created a stir amongst ecommerce companies, as businesses everywhere now look to strive forward despite the lack of a promising tool.