Instagram's New Ecommerce Feature- 'Checkout'

1. Instagram's New Ecommerce Feature- 'Checkout' Instagram is one of the powerful ecommerce platforms to reach your audience, build brand and retain customer loyalty. Why? Because, studies reveal that there are nearly 25 million + business profiles on Instagram today! And, about​ 200 million Instagrammers visit at least one business account per day. Almost every ​SaaS development company​​might have utilized Instagram’s shopping, analytics and advertising suite of tools for quite a few time now. And, finally Instagram has rolled out its new ecommerce closed beta feature in March 2019 viz. in-app Checkout. The ‘Checkout’ feature aims to enhance your shopping experience and make purchase procedure more secure, convenient and quick. You don’t have to leave Instagram and switch to dealer’s website to complete your order anymore. Rather, with secured payment information in Instagram itself, you can shop your favorite brands without logging in payment information multiple times. F​or this, brands that are partnering with the beta need to pay a ‘selling fee’ to Instagram. Over 20 brands will use this brand-new ‘Checkout’ feature including Dior, Adidas, Michael Kors, Zara, MAC Cosmetics, Nike, H&M, Prada, Warby Parker and more. Eventually, Instagram will make this feature available to more businesses. Below every eligible item for in-app checkout, there’s a blue ‘Checkout on Instagram’ button. Tap on the button, log in billing information and proceed with your order. Customers get to choose from 3 payment methods: payment with PayPal, saving payment information in the app itself or entering it whilst checking out.

2. What makes ‘Checkout’’ feature so special? Previously, Instagram redirected consumers to retailer’s site whenever they wanted to complete the purchase- which is a time-consuming and less streamlined process. Such pop-up webview used to result in frustration and cart abandonment by people altogether. Checkout feature will allow people to complete their purchase in the app itself, thereby providing convenience and urging them to shop more. Furthermore, consumers can log in their payment information to be saved for future purchases. This way, they won’t have to enter this data again and again. Even SaaS development services can take advantage of this in-app checkout feature to enhance their customer experiences. Is it secure? Instagram has announced buyer protection as a vital part of checkout and is allowing consumers to directly interact with brands. Mostly, brands will resolve issues with consumers, but if not, Instagram will hand out refunds. For now, it seems that brands will only have access to shipping addresses and contact information of their customers. But, consumers can opt to share their email addresses with brands, which they will fairly use for marketing purposes. To test the feature, Instagram is partnering with ecommerce market leaders like BigCommerce and Shopify to roll out the experience. Know that these checkout tags will appear on Explore content, Feed Posts as well as Stories of brands that are part of the beta. ​When consumers tap on the post and open it, at the bottom they’ll see ‘Checkout with Instagram’ button. People will be able to track their order through ‘Orders’ section in their profile- where they can also choose to cancel, return or contact the retailer. Important point is that, SaaS services can be made available to Instagrammers through this potential platform in near future. Biggest advantage is that Instagram will soon allow brands to integrate checkout feature with their BigCommerce, Shopify, CommerceHub and other smart tools to enhance shopping experiences.