Instagram is Hosting '10 Days of Live Shopping' Event to Showcase its Ever-evolving eCommerce Tools

nstagram is stepping up its in-stream commerce efforts with the debut of a new ‘10 Days of Live Shopping' event, which will see some celebrity's live-stream product launches in the app, demonstrating the power of live-stream shopping for interacting with Instagram's audience. With Instagram's 10+ Days of Live Shopping, fashion, beauty, music, and lifestyle are colliding like never before. People may tune in starting September 1st to see Selena Gomez, Kacey Musgraves, Lil Yachty, and other surprise guests in small gatherings. The events provide you early access to new releases, special offers, and limited-edition merchandise available only on Instagram.

According to Instagram, the event will include a variety of celebrities demonstrating new items in collaboration with major brands (mainly their labels), with live streaming scheduled throughout the month. Users may follow these events by going to the new "Live" destination in the Shop tab, which is a dedicated location within Instagram's shopping experience for commerce-related streams.

The mix of exclusive products and the ability to interact with celebrities in real-time will undoubtedly attract large audiences, making this the ideal time for Instagram to promote its increasing eCommerce possibilities ahead of the holiday season.

Starting with the introduction of Instagram Shops, which Facebook rushed out to capitalize on the pandemic-induced eCommerce shift, commerce has been a major focus for the app over the last two years. The bigger picture view is that, over time, every Instagram image and video will become ‘shoppable,' with creators and/or Facebook's systems tagging related items in each frame, leading to new habitual usage behaviors that will see more and more people shopping on Instagram regularly, providing new monetization options for the app.

That would be the ideal scenario for all social applications, with each platform now exploring its eCommerce potential in different ways as it seeks to extend usage behaviors and provide more motivation for companies to create a stronger presence in, and reliance on, their apps.

Both Facebook and YouTube are pioneering object identification within video clips, with YouTube currently experimenting with automatic item tags that could enable more direct product alternatives related to each clip in the future. Facebook is looking at it, and with the popularity of live-stream shopping on the rise, it's also working on new showcase options for streams, extending buy activity within the app even further.

Consumers are increasingly eager to check out live shopping, according to Facebook's data, which was released earlier this year, with 89 percent of respondents expressing interest in the option. When you combine that interest with well-known celebrities, you've got yourself a winner. It'll be interesting to see how Facebook's new shopping events are received, and how it influences their approach to live-stream shopping in the future. Simultaneously, TikTok's live-stream shopping opportunities are improving.

Another factor in Instagram's new push is that it hopes to hook more users into its live-shopping experience by leveraging the reach of these high-profile users. This, in turn, will lead to increased use of its new Live shopping tab within its shopping tools, providing ongoing potential for brands, even those without celebrity endorsement. It might be a significant change, especially as we approach the holiday shopping season.

This link will take you to Instagram's new Live Shopping display (on mobile only).