Facebook’s opening of Reels and IGTV shopping functionality is unsurprising considering how Instagram’s expansion policy has been essential to e-commerce. The timeframe is also significant, indicating that Facebook aims to carve out a greater piece of an online holiday market that is generally controlled by retailers such as Walmart, Target and Amazon while notching out young social media rivals such as TikTok.
In an attempt to better link advertising and video content with direct sales, Reels and IGTV incorporating shopping could improve appeal to both creators and brands who have implemented similar features elsewhere on Instagram.
We make shopping directly from the videos of IGTV and Reels and its very easy to shop. And in exchange, helping vendors share their story, meet clients, and make a living,’ said Justin Osofsky, chief operating officer of Instagram, in a press release.
For Instagram, further acceptance of e-commerce is crucial as advertisement sources crowd out elsewhere on the platform. In July, the photo-sharing app launched Instagram Shop, a hub providing customised suggestions, unique pieces and collections of goods from brands and makers. Instagram extended its Commerce Eligibility Criteria earlier in the summer to allow more companies and influencers to sell products to users through Instagram. Shoppable IGTV videos will show up later on the Instagram Shop page, although a date was not mentioned by Facebook’s announcement.
As more companies go digital with the ongoing closing down of retail stores during the pandemic, Facebook has placed a focus on e-commerce through its app suite. The social giant has portrayed these movements as offering a lifeline to smaller companies and entrepreneurs during the health crisis, but big brands have also increased investments in online platforms, signalling that even though stores open up, the trend for e-commerce will remain.
Reels and IGTV are two of Instagram’s biggest attempts to get past staple features such as picture sharing and Posts, a vanishing Snapchat cribbed photo and video collage format. As homebound customers spend more time live streaming content, IGTV, which attempted to maintain traction in its early days, has seen engagement leap. In May, Instagram began checking the portal’s video advertising.
