“The first platform for many marketers is Facebook, mainly because of the size and scale,” said Zvika Goldstein, chief product officer of Kenshoo, a digital advertising technology platform, who was interviewed for our recent “Social Commerce 2019” report. “But in certain categories, they look at Instagram as the stronger vehicle for ecommerce.”
For example, Instagram has a more distinctive aesthetic that attracts younger users and lifestyle brands, particularly in fashion and beauty. The platform offers a unique combination of scale and contextual relevance that has made it the first choice many brands in these categories turn to for social commerce. Instagram may be on its way to becoming an ecommerce powerhouse if it can prove that its relevance drives purchase.
In its most ambitious push into ecommerce so far, the company launched “Checkout on Instagram” in March 2019, with retail partners that included adidas, H&M, Nike, Prada and Warby Parker. The new capability, which helps brands streamline checkout directly within the app for products seen on Instagram, is part of a larger move into commerce-adjacent services like messaging and payments.
Pinterest is another key player in social commerce, as it offers users a venue for creative and aspirational pursuits that aligns particularly well with shopping content. According to a February 2019 survey by Cowen and Company, 47% of social media users saw Pinterest as the platform for discovering and shopping for products—more than three times higher than those who cited Facebook or Instagram.