Social selling has, for some time, been touted as a hot new trend in ecommerce but to date has simply been unable to help merchants close the gap between social promotions and sales, but that may change (and soon).
Ecommerce marketing platform Springbot announced an integration with Instagram that will enable merchants to sell on the Facebook-owned photo and video sharing platform.
Springbot's Instagram integration for Magento and Shopify stores provides merchant's the ability to create and brand their Instagram shopping page with a customized shopping gallery. Internet retailers/merchants can publish a customized link to their profile, encourage customers to shop among featured products, and (with any luck) convert product page visits from Instagram to actual in-cart sales. Additional Springbot Instagram features include the ability to allow online stores to send followers automated email reminders to visit their site later. Springbot also provides tracking tools so online merchants can identify hot-selling products and track the sales and revenue generated from the network.
"With over 27% of the total US population on Instagram and its dominate popularity with millennials, it is a critical social platform for online retailers to stay top of mind with consumers in order to drive revenue," said Brooks Robinson, co-founder and CEO of Springbot. "Smart commerce marketers are utilizing real-time data to know which products are generating the most social shares and sales, and how to simplify the shopping process to drive online conversions by understanding where to invest marketing dollars."