Dive Brief:
- In an effort to promote its e-commerce tools, Instagram is hosting a pop-up shop in New York City to celebrate the third anniversary of its Instagram Shop account, the platform announced on Monday. The account has featured over 1,000 small businesses and just reached 1 million followers.
- The pop-up will take place in the Chelsea Triangle on May 20 and May 21. The social network is mainly featuring minority-owned home, beauty, accessories and fashion brands, including Hill House, Next Chapter Studio and Bon Bon Whims, according to the announcement.
- The platform is also hosting a live shopping event on May 19, featuring the founders of The Bon Bon Whims Club and Estelle Colored Glass. It will showcase the assortment of products on Instagram in the Editors’ Picks section of the Shop tab, per the announcement.
Dive Insight:
Since Instagram launched its Shop feature in 2019, the tool has become a hub for consumers to view livestream shopping events, browse curated items and view limited-edition product releases — eventually enabling the company to gather more information for shoppers’ personalized product recommendations. Now, Instagram Shop has reached 1 million followers, per the company announcement.
The New York City Instagram pop-up follows the platform’s pivot away from focusing on photos. Last July, Adam Mosseri, head of Instagram, announced in a video that the platform will concentrate on creators, videos, shopping and messaging in an attempt to tap into the rise in e-commerce. In addition to Shops, the platform has also debuted Shopping on Reels, joining other platforms like Pinterest and Snapchat in releasing social commerce tools.
Of course, Instagram isn’t the only platform experimenting with livestream shopping. Its sister social app Facebook introduced a livestream shopping series in May 2021 featuring brands and retailers like Sephora, Clinique and Abercrombie & Fitch. In November, Pinterest also introduced livestream shopping via Pinterest TV, featuring brands like Allbirds, Outdoor Voices and Crown Affair.
Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest and other social apps are releasing these in-app shopping features amidst the rise of the social commerce industry. A 2022 Accenture report predicts that social commerce will grow $1.2 trillion by 2025, a trend driven primarily by Gen Z and millennial shoppers.
