Although the company indicates that they will continue to support their shopping tools after the update. But the truth is that the so-called social commerce has not been such. As confirmed by Instagram: "You'll still be able to set up and manage your store on Instagram as we continue to invest in shopping experiences that deliver the most value for people and businesses across feeds, stories, reels, ads, and more." In the wake of the shutdowns stemming from the COVID-pandemic, which accelerated e-commerce adoption , many expected the new enthusiasm for shopping online to continue. And most social apps looked to increase their online shopping efforts to align with this change.
Once brick-and-mortar stores reopened, shopping behavior largely returned to pre-pandemic normal. Which, it's worth noting, still makes online shopping activity steadily increase Latest Mailing Database over time. Only, not at the rapid pace that it had been due to COVID. online retail share After the effect, came the adjustments and cuts The parent company of Instagram, Meta , has admitted that it overestimated its growth potential in this regard. And this is one of the reasons why it was forced to cut, jobs in November. Many of these roles were tied to the company's effort to boost online shopping. And since live-stream commerce and its other initiatives failed to gain traction, Meta is now sidelining this as a key element in its growth strategy.
Note that Meta has slashed its Facebook Live Stream buying drive entirely. But Instagram still has at least some hope that online shopping will become a thing. Live shopping, in particular, is huge in China. With “live” shopping revenue predicted to top $ billion in the region by. That equates to nearly half of all e-commerce spending in the US. uh . Live streaming commerce has also proven increasingly popular with younger audiences, with Chinese users aged and under making faster adoption of live streaming spending. what could happen If that trend expands beyond China's borders, there still appears to be significant potential.