How to remove shopping tab on instagram

Instagram to remove shopping tab

An article from

Dive Brief

Published Jan. 10, 2023

Dani James Reporter

Permission granted by Meta

Dive Brief:

Changing the way consumers access commerce on its app, Meta-owned Instagram will remove its Shop tab from the homepage navigation bar in February, according to a post on the company’s support site. A Meta spokesperson told Retail Dive via email that “there will no longer be a dedicated shopping destination. However, people will be able to continue to shop in the moment across feed, reels, stories, explore, and ads.”
Instagram said the navigation bar update — which also includes moving the content creation button to the center — is part of an effort to “make it easier for people to share and connect with their friends and interests,” per the support post.
While the Shop tab will be removed, the social media company said businesses will still be able to set up their shop on the Instagram app, and it continues to invest in shopping experiences.

Dive Insight:

Months after The Information reported that Instagram told internal employees its shopping page would eventually disappear, the company is formally acting on it. The company had reportedly told employees in a September memo that it had a shift in priorities and would test a less personalized version of the shopping page.

When asked about the reporting at the time, a Meta spokesperson told Retail Dive via email that “commerce remains important for Instagram as we continue to make it easier for people to discover and shop products throughout the app from feed, stories, reels and innovations like live shopping and drops.”

Head of Instagram Adam Mosseri said in a video Monday that the new navigation is meant to simplify the app experience, adding “we’re trying to bring people together over what they love. ”

During 2022, Instagram had a plethora of announcements related to social commerce. The social media company expanded product tagging capabilities to all users in April, and celebrated Shop’s anniversary with an in-person pop-up event in May. Additionally, Instagram launched a pay-in-chat feature aimed at helping small businesses finalize transactions through direct messaging in July.

However, Meta’s Facebook platform shut down its live shopping feature in August, stating that consumers' behavior patterns were favoring short-form videos such as Reels.

The Shop tab on Instagram brought in additional ad potential, with the company in August of 2021 expanding advertisement capability on the feature globally after testing it with select brands in the U.S. for a few weeks.

As Meta finds its footing in the social commerce space, some data suggests the channel could grow faster than e-commerce overall. An Accenture report from January 2022 forecasts the global social commerce industry could grow three times as fast as e-commerce, from $492 billion in 2021 to $1. 2 trillion by 2025. Gen Z and millennial consumers are predicted to lead growth, according to Accenture, which found those generations would account for 62% of global social commerce spend by 2025.

Filed Under: Technology, Marketing

What will the impact be?

Instagram is to remove the Shop tab from its homepage navigation bar this February, in what may form part of a wider shake-up that will see the social media platform re-focus on driving ad revenue.

Parent company Meta announced the change earlier this week, informing users that the Reels tab will replace Shop, while the content creation button will return to the centre of the navigation bar. “You will still be able to set up and run your shop on Instagram as we continue to invest in shopping experiences that provide the most value for people and businesses across feed, stories, reels, ads and more,” the company explained.

Back in September 2022, The Information reported that Meta employees had been informed via an internal memo that Instagram’s Shopping page would eventually disappear, following a trial of a pared-down and less-personalised version. The memo stated that the shift reflects “a new northstar and goals for the commerce organization that are more directly tied to advertising revenue for Meta.”

Indeed, Instagram’s removal of the Shop tab appears to align with this new purpose, indicating that perhaps Shop hadn’t been as profitable as hoped. But is this really the case? And what does Instagram’s decision mean for brand strategy on the platform and the wider state of social media and social commerce? I spoke to some experts to get their opinion on the topic.

The switch up could improve CX

Instagram’s Shop tab originally replaced the popular Activity tab in 2020, which was met with dismay from users at the time. Tamara Littleton, CEO at The Social Element, told Econsultancy that the removal of Shop could therefore be welcomed by users. With control over data remaining an issue for major brands, Littleton also believes that they may be unconcerned by the change.

“This play doesn’t necessarily negate the importance of commerce to Instagram’s overall strategy, but it might indicate that this placement and focus has not generated the results the tech giant would like,” she said. “Ultimately, most bigger brands like to remain in control of both the shopping experience and the data it lends them on customers, making the Shop feature less than critical for those with the biggest budgets.”

“Switching things up to ensure Shop features serve advertisers first and foremost makes sense from a revenue point of view. It also may work better for users, who ultimately use Instagram for content sharing and discovery – Instagram will be looking to help the platform to feel more organic. As the Shop tab was widely disputed by users this could arguably improve their experience with commerce by using the improved product tagging capabilities instead.”

Small brands and individual sellers will be hit

Sue Azari, Ecommerce Industry Lead, EMEA & LATAM at AppsFlyer, suggests that Instagram’s decision is based upon the Shop tab earning less engagement that other product features. “Social platforms are still experimenting with social commerce, so it’s possible that Instagram will develop stronger shopping features via a different experience in the future,” she said.

“Instagram’s decision will likely hit smaller brands and individual sellers hardest. The majority of the bigger retail brands have focused on pushing their social following to their respective web and app channels, where they have the benefit of capturing more granular data on user behaviours.”

A bigger push towards user-created content

Tom Jarvis, Founder and CEO of Wilderness Agency, told Econsultancy that Meta’s move is less likely to be a reflection of the value of social commerce itself, and more of UX-driven decision, designed to push users towards a different kind of content – especially now that the creation button is prominently featured once again.

“Some have argued this is a loss for commerce on the platform and indicative of a wider m-commerce challenge, but I actually think this represents a doubling-down from Instagram in trying to get users to watch and create Reels content,” he said. “The shop feature is still available in feed, in stories, in Reels, and in ads but Instagram is bringing its “create” button front and centre ensuring users are prompted to not just watch but make original content for the platform. ”

So, Jarvis says that shopping will still be integral to Instagram’s strategy, just not so ‘in your face’.

“Instagram has to find ways to encourage users to create original content for the platform so simplifying the nav to make this a more seamless process is an obvious next step. I still fully expect them to develop new tools for users to buy products from the content they see as a core focus; it just doesn’t have to live on the nav but throughout the platform and the content within it.”

But is it a short-sighted decision?

George Pavlou, Head of Group Social at The Hut Group, told Econsultancy that Meta’s priorities are unsurprising on the basis of its long-standing business model.

“Meta has, generally speaking, paid lip service to commerce on social as they’ve always concentrated and developed their business model around ads. From the launch of Instagram Checkout to other commerce features released across their portfolio, it’s generally been the case that they’ve left brands to work it out for themselves – which is a far cry from the initial successes of something like TikTok Shop, where the platform has dedicated vast resource on onboarding and strategising with brands on how to most successfully sell their products on their marketplace,” he explained.

Consequently, Pavlou says that Instagram’s changes won’t impact the overall growth of social commerce, and that it could even be a decision Meta comes to regret in the long-term – particularly if other platforms start to reap the rewards.

“I don’t think Meta’s decision will deter other social platforms like Pinterest, YouTube and even Twitter from deviating too far from the commerce model being set out by TikTok,” he said. “Short and medium term, social media is where the next generation of consumers want to shop, having grown up with it as the place to discover new products and brands. Meta are banking on the metaverse being the next great advertising space, which is why they’re further prioritising ads over commerce on Instagram – essentially training audiences to get used to ads.”

“They’ve got the resources to make it work, but as always with social – for short-medium term success, you have to meet audiences where they are, and retail brands will always follow their audiences and customers to wherever they can reach them. They’re not in the metaverse right now but consumers are looking to shop via social media, which makes the decision to prioritise ads seem short sighted, in spite of their long term metaverse strategy.”

Three fundamentals of an effective social commerce strategy

How to add a product catalog to Instagram, how to tag products

Elena
Sergeeva Targeted advertising specialist

According to Facebook Ads, 70% of users learn about new products from Instagram. To help sellers promote them, Instagram created the Instagram Shopping tool, which became available in Russia in March 2021. We will tell you why to connect this tool and how to set it up.

What is Instagram Shopping

Instagram Shopping is a tool that allows you to tag products in your posts and Stories. Instagram takes information about products from the catalog that the seller uploads.

The profile with the option enabled looks like this:

There is a bag icon on the photo, which means that if you open a post, goods will be marked in it. Source: COS

Several items can be noted in the photo. When clicking on shopping tags, users will see the price and description of the product, and will also be able to follow the link and place an order on the site.

In addition to prices and the products themselves, the user also sees additional information about them: in the description, you can specify the composition of the fabric, size, available colors, etc. The user can also view the item from different angles in the gallery or learn about other products of the online store All this without leaving Instagram.

To get to the catalog with goods, you need to click on the "View store" button. Inside the store, products can be grouped into thematic collections, such as new arrivals or gifts.

US residents can pay for items within the app using Facebook Pay. In other countries, including Russia, this option is not yet available: users follow the link on the product to an external site and pay for the order there.

Why include Instagram Shopping

The selling element is integrated into the content, which is convenient for both the buyer and the seller. The buyer does not need to switch between applications and communicate with the seller to select a product and find out its characteristics. And the seller can do without the same type of posts in the “follow the link in the description” format.
Sellers don't have to create multiple posts for different products: they can be placed on one photo. Adding products does not take much time, and you can mark them not only in posts, but also in Stories.
Also can be found in automatic recommendations in the "Shop" tab, which appeared for some users. You can keep up to date with the latest from your favorite brands.

Setting up Instagram Shopping: Getting Started

Read the Facebook Ads Trade Agreement : it describes the requirements for goods, the responsibility of the parties, etc. For example, Facebook prohibits the sale of brand replicas and any products with copyright infringement, and in order for the system algorithms to work correctly, the advertiser must consent to the transfer of data from his site. Violation of the trading agreement can result in account suspension.
Create an Instagram account - for business or for the author. You can't post items on your personal profile. How to set up a business account on Instagram, we tell in the instructions.
Link your Instagram account to your Facebook business page . For more information on how to do this, we have described in the article. If you don't already have a business page, create a Facebook Business Manager account first, you'll need it to set up your store in Commerce Manager. With Business Manager, you can manage your Facebook and Instagram accounts and pages, and assign people who can work with them.
Download product catalog . The new catalog is created in Facebook's Commerce Manager, a section within the social network where you can manage your inventory and sales. If you already have a catalog, you can add it using one of the partner platforms: OpenCart, WooCommerce, Shopify, etc. We will talk about this when we go through the setup.

In the catalog you can

Manage products: create them, edit the image, description, price and other important characteristics.
Combine products into collections to show customers exactly what they are interested in.
Give access to product management to other people or partner companies.
Set the country and language so that buyers see the correct information and the correct prices.

How to add products to Instagram through Commerce Manager

The system prompts you to create a shop or catalog. The store is a single storefront for Instagram and Facebook, which is available to companies with physical goods. To promote products on Instagram, click Add Catalog. Choose the type of catalog depending on the subject of your business, e-commerce is suitable for online stores.

In the next step, you need to configure the parameters and method for loading products. From the drop-down list, select the advertising account to which the catalog will be linked.

You can create a catalog yourself - by uploading a spreadsheet or by connecting a pixel - or through integration with one of the partner platforms. In the second case, the goods will be loaded from an existing online store.

Click the "Create" button - the catalog is ready.

Important : the catalog must contain exact prices and information about the availability of each item. In addition, the rules for returning goods must also be indicated - on the store's website or in the Instagram account.

To proceed with product creation, select the desired catalog in Commerce Manager and then click Add Products.

Add products using one of the following methods:

Manually - this method involves filling out a form for each product and is suitable for companies with a small assortment.
Via a data feed (spreadsheet). You can download many products at once and set up regular updates. Files in CSV, TSV and XML (RSS/ATOM) formats are supported, as well as Google Sheets.
Automatically - through integration with one of the partner platforms. In this case, the goods will be loaded from the existing store.
Using the Facebook pixel. If you haven't installed the pixel yet, we recommend contacting the webmaster.

If you choose to download manually, a form will open. In it you need to add the name of the product, its description, images, link to the site and price. The system will tell you which data is not required.

After completing the form and uploading, the products will appear in your catalog.

How to create a collection with products

Inside the catalog, products can be grouped into collections: for example, by subject, season, upcoming holidays, etc. Collections help sellers to get to the user's interests more accurately, and users to quickly select goods.

You can create not only the standard collections, but also those that will attract more attention, such as "Top 10 coats" or "Gifts for best friends".

You can combine products into groups manually or using filters, for example, if there are a lot of products.

At the final stage, specify the name of the collection and click the "Create" button.

After creating a product catalog, you need to send an account for verification. The verification may take several days.

How to add products to Instagram

To add a catalog to Instagram, go to the "Settings" section in the application and select the "Company" tab.

Then click "Set up Instagram Shopping" and follow the prompts.

If the catalog passes the check, a "Purchases" section will appear in your Instagram account. Once your account is approved, turn on Instagram Shopping. To do this, in the "Purchases" section, select the product catalog that you want to connect, and click "Finish".

How to tag an item

To tag an item in a post, start posting as usual - add a photo and post text, and then follow these steps:

Click Mark Items.
Find the product you need and select it from the catalog.
Click "Done" and share the post with your followers.

You can also mark the product in Stories. To do this:

Select an image to publish and click on the sticker icon in the upper right corner of the screen.
Select the product sticker and the desired product in the catalog.
Tag a product with a sticker and share your story with your followers.

Up to 5 products can be tagged in one photo, up to 20 in total in the gallery. In Stories, a sticker is added to only one product, but you can change its color and text.

In conclusion

Instagram Shopping will increase sales and user engagement in your account. The product catalog can be used not only to familiarize subscribers with the assortment, but also to set up targeted advertising on Facebook and Instagram.

We especially recommend this tool for e-commerce: the user immediately sees the price and all information about the product. True, if a product or service involves preliminary communication with the client and a long transaction cycle, then the published price may scare the user away. Therefore, before using Instagram Shopping, consider whether the tool suits your product and the behavior of your target audience.

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Useful tips

Reading 8 min. Views 159 Published 04/26/2022 Updated 04/27/2022

Social networks allow people to communicate at a distance and, at the same time, kill time when it becomes too boring. However, some services eat up too much time and effort. Therefore, people begin to wonder: how to delete a page on Instagram?

Content

How to delete your Instagram account - via Android phone
How to delete your Instagram page - via computer
Is it possible to temporarily delete your Instagram account
Warning when deleting Instagram
how to delete Instagram

How to delete an Instagram account - via Android phone

There are many reasons why people delete accounts on social networks: someone does not want to spend more time on the application, many are repelled by the blocking of the network from the global community, due to which is losing interest in Instagram. However, the settings inside the application are complex and not everyone can figure out how to delete an Instagram page from their phone the first time. To do this, it is enough to follow a simple algorithm of actions:

go to the Instagram application;
open your account;
click on the personal profile button in the lower right corner;
open personal information - three horizontal lines in the upper right corner;

in the extended list, find the sign of the settings - a translucent gear;

among all the settings you need to find the line “Help”, next to it there will be an icon of the worldwide network;

select the “Help Center” button from the opened menu;

due to this action, the account page on the network will open, you need to click on the three horizontal bars and click on the "Account Management" button;

in the new menu there will be a line “How to delete your Instagram account”;
when you click on the button, a long text with a detailed description will appear, and at the very end, a delete profile button;
Now Instagram does not allow you to delete a page without specifying the reason that prompted it. After specifying the reason, you need to confirm the firmness of intentions in the desire to erase the profile;

to confirm the desire to delete, you need to enter the password for the page;

after all these manipulations, the page will be completely deleted.

It often happens that when updating an application, the system automatically switches to a foreign language. You can delete a page on Instagram in English in the same way as in Russian - the settings do not change depending on the language. For ease of action, you can navigate by the icons that are attached to each line.

How to delete your Instagram page - through a computer

If it is quite simple to delete an Instagram page from a phone, then it is inconvenient to do it from a stationary PC or laptop due to confusing and incomprehensible settings. However, the instructions on how to delete a page on Instagram are as follows:

open a browser on your computer, log in and log into your personal account in the application;

click on the profile photo in the upper right corner, open the “profile” tab from the proposed lines;

after, you need to scroll down all the photos and videos, go to the very end, there is a small list of menus;
select the line “Help” from everything written below;

from the presented new menu, click on the “Account Management” button;

among the entire proposed list, select “Delete profile”;

a new menu will appear, from which you need to select the line “How to delete an account on Instagram?”;

after clicking, a detailed text will appear describing how to do this, and below is a button with a suggestion to delete the page, you need to click on it;
the service will prompt you to indicate the reason for the deletion, you need to select a suitable reason from the list;

after you have to confirm the deletion of the profile;
all photos, the number of subscriptions and subscribers after that will be forever hidden from the eyes of other network users.

Interesting! Benefits of Buying Instagram Followers.

Is it possible to temporarily delete an Instagram account

It is also possible to temporarily delete an Instagram page. Disconnection from the network occurs exactly for the period of time that this or that person needs to rest from the world-famous application. To do this, you need to do several actions:

through a browser on your phone or computer, open the application website and log in: enter your password and email;

open your personal profile, for this you need to click on the avatar located in the upper right corner;

open the menu under the “Profile Edit” button;
the button will open a large menu where you can change the name, surname, nickname, phone number, etc., you can find what you need by scrolling through this entire list to the very end. It is there that the button for temporarily disabling the profile is located;

by clicking on the button, you need to specify the reason for blocking and confirm by entering the password from the profile.

Warning when deleting Instagram

When deleting a profile, you need to remember one thing: the profile on Instagram is deleted forever, so all data, photos and videos, correspondence, subscribers, saved files will be deleted along with the profile. The page, after these manipulations, will not be returned to the owner. The person will be able to re-register and start a new profile, but the deleted pages will not be restored.

At the same time, many users ask a number of questions about this:

“Is it better to delete Instagram permanently, or disable it temporarily?” - It depends on the personal preferences of each person. Some people think that apps are a waste of time and effort, and therefore decide that they don't need an app. They don’t want to delete only the service so that the information from the profile does not walk around the network. On the other hand, some people simply block the profile to temporarily take a break from the service and recuperate. This method is even resorted to by schoolchildren and students who are preparing for exams;
“If I delete a profile permanently but then change my mind, can I get it back?” - No. The profile is deleted forever so that no one can access the information stored in it. If you are not sure that you want to return to Instagram, then it is better to put an unlimited block, and not delete the page completely;
“If you delete a profile, will it disappear completely?” - all information from this profile will disappear, but the user's photo and nickname will remain. No one will be able to see photo and video materials, the number of subscriptions and subscribers and other information;
“Can I re-register after deleting a page?” - Yes. You can register and create new profiles an unlimited number of times. To do this, it is enough to go through the standard registration procedure, which all users go through when they first download the application. But at the same time, you need to remember that all profiles will not be filled out, which means that you will have to collect interesting pages and new subscribers from scratch.

Interesting! How to watch Instagram stories anonymously.

How to delete a linked Instagram account

Deleting a linked Instagram account is much more difficult for a number of reasons. The Instagram profile is tied to other applications and Internet resources. This is done for ease of registration in various services. To permanently delete a page on Instagram from your phone, you must first log out of your profile. To do this, you need:

open the application;
go to the profile that you plan to delete, just click on the button in the lower right corner;
in the profile you need to open the gear-shaped settings button;
the bottom line is associated with exiting the device, you need to click on it and exit the device;
after leaving the page, you need to re-enter it;
instead of entering your own password, you need to ask the service to recover the password;
after that, the instagram account must be attached to another email;
after that you need to delete the profile. The method for deleting an Instagram page from a phone is described above.

If a user registered in other services through an Instagram profile, then third-party authorization can be removed through a smartphone. To do this, you need to do several things:

open the settings and select the “Security” column with the closed padlock icon in the provided list;
at the very end of the new menu, you need to select the line “Application and sites”;

after that, a list of sites and applications in which a person is registered through instagram will open, to change this, just remove the site from the list.

Step-by-step instructions for removing Instagram

Removing the application itself is quite simple:

to do this, open the menu with a list of applications;

select Instagram;
press it with your finger for a few seconds;
after that, a small menu will appear, among which there will be a proposal to delete the application;

to permanently delete an Instagram page from an Android phone, you need to confirm your desire;

from this moment the service is removed from the phone.

Contrary to popular belief that Instagram pages cannot be deleted, this is not the case. It is enough to look at the step-by-step instructions to understand how to delete a page on Instagram forever. On a computer, this is easy to do if you go to the site through the browser and open the profile, and then open the support site and ask how the profile is deleted. Through smartphones, deletion is even easier, but it still interacts with third-party services - the browser.

To permanently delete an Instagram page from your phone, just open the settings and go to the information that will take the user to the browser. There you also need to contact support and ask how to delete the profile. After all the steps, it is best to indicate the reason for the deletion. This is done because the service regularly conducts statistics of users who left the application and the reason that prompted it. Based on the collected data, the service tries to become better for the target audience: it updates and creates new branches.