The live shopping feature on Instagram, which gained notable popularity in the Asian markets, will be rolled back on March 16, 2023. Meta on Tuesday announced that Instagram users wouldn’t be able to tag products while live streaming anymore.
The changes come in the wake of Meta’s recent emphasis on making 2023 a “year of efficiency”.
The feature’s popularity gained traction during the pandemic, but it has continued to face difficulties in the US market in recent times. As shared by Meta, the company will now be focusing more on ads instead.
Instagram seems to be deprioritizing shopping with the recent removal of the shop tab. Reels were relocated to the side, too, in response to criticism from the users.
The removal of live shopping might be related to the users’ displeasure over too much focus on video content. With the upcoming removal of the live shopping feature, marketers will have to adjust their strategies further.
However, Meta announced that despite killing the live shopping feature, the company remains invested in shopping. Besides, Instagram will now shift the focus to ads in place of live shopping.
What was the live shopping feature?
With the pandemic affecting global markets and forcing brick-and-mortar businesses to go online, it’s no surprise that such online marketing techniques quickly picked up the pace.
While it’s true that social media marketing techniques like live shopping were a hit during the global pandemic, the pandemic also kept us from seeing the full picture. As the pandemic came to an end and markets began to return to normalcy, it turned out that live shopping wasn’t much of a success in the US market.
Insider Intelligence data suggest live shopping only accounted for 5% of the total eCommerce sales generated in the US.
Live shopping primarily originated and gained popularity in China and other Asian markets, but apparently, it’s not possible to replicate the success in the western markets. The reason can largely be credited to the differences in culture and digital habits between the two.
The Future of Online Shopping
Not too long ago, Tiktok abandoned its plans to expand the live shopping business in Europe and the US. Considering the platform’s position as the potential leader in the live shopping biz, it’s easy to see that the business wasn’t going so well in these markets. Many of the live stream tests conducted by TikTok in these markets produced zero sales, which explains the sudden change of plans.
Instagram believes that 90% of its users follow at least one business, so there’s no reason to shift away from shopping entirely.
The removal of the live shopping feature certainly isn’t the end of shopping and marketing on Instagram. Businesses can still set up and run shops on the platform. Creators, too, will still be able to go live, host Q&As, and invite guests. Considering the relatively low popularity of live shopping in the US, it’s unlikely that the greater picture would change much.
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Krishi Chowdhary
Journalist
