Tech

Shopping on Instagram is going to be huge — but it's barely gotten started yet

By Rob Price
facebook ceo mark zuckerberg
Mark Zuckerberg. AP Photo/Mark Lennihan
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Shopping on Instagram promises to be the next big moneymaking hit for the Facebook-owned photo-sharing app — but it still has a long way to go.

New research from the financial-services firm Cowen showed just 12% of Instagram users use the app for shopping purposes — far behind better-established rivals in the space like Pinterest, with 45%.

The data illustrates the opportunity — and challenge — ahead of Facebook as it attempts to diversify away from its core advertising business and muscle in on the e-commerce space. 

Instagram has been adding a bevvy of new features dedicated to helping users shop, including tags that highlight product costs and link out to websites to buy the items, as well as an integrated checkout feature that allows users to buy goods without ever leaving the app. It has also become home to a new generation of direct-to-consumer brands that are sidestepping intermediary retailers and marketing directly to consumers via its traditional advertising tools. 

instagram shopping cowen q4 2019
Cowen

Despite this push, only a little more than one in 10 Instagram users surveyed by Cowen said that they used the platform for shopping for and finding products, with the overwhelming majority — unsurprisingly — highlighting the app's photo-sharing functionality. (Cowen surveyed 2,500 US consumers for its 2019 fourth-quarter survey.)

Nearly half (45%) of Pinterest users, meanwhile, highlighted that social network's potential for shopping for and finding products — demonstrating that large numbers of users can become interested in shopping via social platforms, an encouraging sign for Instagram.

Analysts are, by and large, extremely bullish on Facebook's e-commerce prospects. Deutsche Bank estimates that by 2021, shopping on Instagram could generate $10 billion a year in new revenue for the company. A survey it conducted in 2019 showed that "43% of survey respondents said they were either 'very likely' (18%) or 'somewhat likely' (25%) to purchase products on Instagram using the new checkout feature" — indicating a high level of general interest from users in shopping on Instagram.

Got a tip? Contact this reporter via encrypted messaging app Signal at (+1) 650-636-6268 using a nonwork device, email at rprice@bjinnox.com, Telegram or WeChat at robaeprice, or Twitter DM at @robaeprice. (PR pitches by email only, please.)

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Reporter Rob Price sitting at a table
Rob Price
Rob Price was a senior correspondent at Business Insider, based in San Francisco. He wrote investigations and long-form features about platforms, people, and power in Silicon Valley.His stories variously led to attorney general investigations, large-scale internal reviews at major tech companies, high-profile personnel departures, citation by state and federal lawmakers, and the closure of a well-funded startup. His 2022 story on the Bitfinex hack is being adapted into a feature film, and in 2024 he received an SPJ NorCal Excellence in Journalism award for his reporting on AI and relationships.Rob's scoops and exclusive stories were cited by The New York Times, Bloomberg, the BBC, Associated Press, Reuters, CNBC, Politico, The Guardian, Axios, and many other national and international publications. His writing has also been published in or syndicated by The Washington Post, The Independent, Vice, Slate, and elsewhere, and he appeared on CNN, the BBC, CBS, Reuters, ABC Australia, and other broadcast media to discuss technology, business, and culture.He worked for Business Insider from 2015 to 2025. Prior to joining the features team, Rob covered Facebook and Silicon Valley, and before that wrote about tech business, policy, and the gig economy in London. Between September and October 2019, he was acting executive editor for Business Insider's UK bureau. He also sat on the board of directors for the San Francisco Press Club, the leading non-profit media advocacy group in the Bay Area, and was a volunteer crew member at the Marine Mammal Center, the world's largest animal hospital for marine mammals. You can contact Rob Price via email at robaeprice@gmail.com, or +1 650-636-6268 (Signal / WhatsApp / Cell). Selected stories:— They spoke out against their employer. Then they were hit with trade secrets suits.— The rise of 'shadow stand-ins'— App, Lover, Muse: Inside a 47-year-old Minnesota man's three-year relationship with an AI chatbot— Deel Speed: The inside story of a $12 billion HR startup's breakneck growth— Private islands, flying cars, and psychedelic parties: Inside the wild post-Google lives of Larry Page and Sergey Brin— 'I want your Instagram account': First came the threatening texts, followed by the SWAT teams. Then someone wound up dead.— Inside Iconiq: How Mark Zuckerberg's banker built a secret Silicon Valley empire and made billions— Gaia was a wildly popular yoga brand. Now it's a publicly traded Netflix rival pushing conspiracy theories while employees fear the CEO is invading their dreams— A drunken late-night assault allegation has roiled the secretive world of Mark Zuckerberg's private family office. Personal aides are speaking out about claims that household staff endured sexual harassment and racism from their colleagues.
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