Data from 500+ Instagram Marketers- It’s evident that Instagram is more than a photo-sharing platform in 2022.

Instagram has grown to be a popular social media channel that offers Story, video and live streaming features. It is also evolving into an online shopping platform that integrates e-commerce with social media.

Our recent survey of 580 Instagram marketing professionals found that the app’s shopping features provide the best ROI of any Instagram strategy.

It can be difficult to know where to begin with the many shopping tools that are popping up in feed-based posts like Reels, Live video and Stories.

Let’s dive deep into Instagram’s shopping tools for marketers and business professionals.

Which Instagram Shopping Tools Perform Best?

Instagram shopping tools are the best strategy for maximizing ROI, and they are also the most popular strategy among Instagram marketers. It’s only the beginning.

Only 37% of users currently use the shopping app’s tools. However, 94% will increase or keep their investment in this year. Moreover, 1 in 3 people plan to use Instagram’s shopping tools for the very first time this year.

Marketers who use Instagram’s shopping tools are 15% less likely to claim that their Instagram strategy is effective than those who do not. Which tools are the most effective?

Instagram Shops and Instagram Live Shopping have the highest ROI and the greatest leverage.

In 2022, live shopping will increase significantly with 55% of people planning to explore Instagram Shops, and 48% intending to try Instagram Live Shopping.

Over 1 in 3 marketers use Instagram Feed Post Shopping, Instagram Stories Shopping and Instagram Guides Shopping. They also have a high ROI.

Reels Shopping is the least used and most profitable of all the Instagram shopping tools. However, 42% of Instagram marketers intend to use Reels Shopping in the coming year.

Instagram Shopping: Should you sell or launch products exclusively through Instagram Shopping?

Instagram Shopping tools are a powerful marketing tool. But should you also have a website for selling your products and services?

41% of Instagram marketers claim that most brands they work with use Instagram shopping to sell their products, and have no separate websites. 59% of Instagram marketers use both.

83% of Instagram marketers have collaborated with brands that launch products exclusively on Instagram. 59% say it’s better to launch on Instagram than elsewhere.

You can also launch a product exclusive to your Instagram followers to increase brand loyalty and reward them.

This is only one of many benefits that marketers see from Instagram’s shopping tools. Let’s look at other benefits marketers get from social shopping.

Instagram’s Best Shopping Tools

There are many benefits to using Instagram shopping tools, including increased product discovery, simplified shopping experience for customers, easy partnering with influencers and the ability of your products being integrated into content. This makes it more authentic.

I already mentioned that Instagram is all about helping creators to monetize their content. One way to do this is to use Shopping from Creators.

Although this feature is not new, it was first introduced to a few influencers in 2019. Instagram did not announce the expansion of this feature to all U.S. users until March 2022.

Shop from Creators allows you to tag your brand’s products in posts. This makes it easy for users to find and buy products on Instagram. This combination of all the benefits mentioned above makes it easy to partner with creators and looks authentic.

There are many challenges to selling on Instagram, despite all the great benefits. Let’s take a look at the most common problems marketers have with Instagram’s shopping tools.

Instagram Shopping Tools: The Biggest Challenges

The top two biggest challenges that marketers face when using Instagram shopping tools seem contradictory. While 38% struggle to make sales, 45% have problems due to excessive sales.

Another 37% are unhappy about the selling fees. They currently stand at 5% per shipment with shipments below $8 incurring a flat fee 40 cents. To help small businesses recover from this pandemic, fees will be waived until June 30, 2022.

36% of Instagram sellers are also unhappy with the lack of full access to all the shopping tools that the app offers. You can expect more people to have access to the app as it embraces social shopping by 2022.

Social Shopping is the Future

It’s never been more time to sell on social media. Instagram is the best place for that.

For a breakdown of the most successful features and strategies on Instagram, check out our 2022 Instagram Marketing Report. This post and this comprehensive guide will show you how brands use Instagram Shopping.

Are you curious about your overall Instagram strategy beyond shopping? For more information, check out our Instagram Engagement Report.