Instagram Commerce Gets A Boost

Many major brands have settled in to the photo sharing hype by creating Instagram accounts, but the platform is somewhat restrictive of just what those brands can deliver to their audiences. Specifically, Instagram only allows each profile to display a single hyperlink, limiting the chances brands have to get consumers to their external sites.

A new eCommerce company called Photoslurp is changing that vision, as it enables users to direct interested consumers to an external site with an Instagram-like design. Photoslurp’s visual commerce experience is used by brands like Birchbox Spain and Lindblad Expeditions/National Geographic, TechCrunch reported.

With its user interface, Photoslurp makes pictures clickable, which allows users to earn commission or sell products by linking the photographs directly to a store’s inventory.

Photoslurp’s Instagram-like shopping experience seems to be striking a chord with consumers with about 60 percent click-through rates observed in its beta test, according to TechCrunch. The company aims to provide brands “a unified visual marketing platform, from which they are able to manage all their visual content in one place,” said Co-Founder and CTO Ben Heinkel.

The 60 percent click-through rates suggest disruption of a model in which business-focussed Instagrammers monetize their pictures by adding links to sponsoring brands in the image’s caption and in the comments. Since Instagram would not allow them to directly link their pictures to online stores, users have to rely on third-party companies offering workarounds to make money.

However, Photoslurp and other platforms like Penny, Spreesy, Soldsie and Like2Buy have been offering a one-stop solution, which makes the experience seamless for Instagrammers and eCommerce companies at the same time.

While Instagram is yet to broaden the hyperlink functionality in its app for its users, in June this year, the Facebook-owned company began monetizing its platform by allowing companies to sell products using its new “Buy Button” and through clickable interactive ads that allow companies to drive potential traffic to their website.