To commemorate the third anniversary of Instagram’s @shop account, the social media company will host a two-day, physical retail pop-up store in New York City next week, the company announced Monday (May 16). .
This way people can browse and buy some popular products in the @shop listings. Instagram said @shop has featured more than 1,000 small businesses and their products since 2019, when it started.
The company also said that @shop recently surpassed 1 million followers.
“To celebrate its 3rd birthday and reach 1 million followers, discover some of @shop’s biggest hits for spring summer on Instagram and in person at Instagram’s first pop-up boutique in New York City,” Instagram wrote. “Achieve household, beauty and lifestyle finds mostly from minority-owned small businesses, including products exclusive to this @shop pop-up!”
This isn’t the first time Instagram has hosted a pop-up store, as it has previously done in London and Berlin.
Greater accessibility for offline purchases is part of the company’s attempt to expand its reach. Videos have long been the focus of Instagram, but people are also using it to browse retail items. Instagram has said that 70% of users use it to discover products, and 87% of users said that influencers on the platform got them to buy something or take a trip.
PYMNTS wrote that Instagram has also gotten into the non-fungible token (NFT) game.
See also: Instagram is testing NFT sharing with select creators and collectors
Selected creators and collectors of NFTs, the digital collectibles that have become hugely popular on the internet in recent months, will be invited to share their creations as part of a pilot program.
Meta, Instagram’s parent company, said it’s looking at “what developers are already doing in our technologies to improve the experience, help them create more monetization opportunities, and bring NFTs to a broader audience.”
The company plans to test digital collectibles with features like connecting the digital wallet to the NFTs and automatically tagging the creator and collector.
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NEW PYMNTS DATA: THE TRUTH ABOUT BNPL AND STORE CARDS – APRIL 2022
Above: Shoppers who have loyalty cards use them for 87% of all eligible purchases — but that doesn’t mean retailers should launch “buy now, pay later” (BNPL) options at checkout. The Truth About BNPL And Store Cards, a collaboration between PYMNTS and PayPal, surveyed 2,161 consumers to find out why providing BNPL and store cards is key to helping merchants maximize conversion.
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