The document discusses the growing power of Instagram for travel commerce. It notes that while s-commerce is still in its early days, young consumers and those in emerging markets are more open to making purchases on social media platforms like Instagram. The document outlines how travel brands are increasing their engagement on Instagram and explores examples like EasyJet and Traveling Jackie that are leveraging Instagram to improve discovery and drive direct bookings. It predicts that Instagram will continue to be important for travel inspiration and that further integration of shopping features and payments could help shorten the booking window and drive more sales within the app.

1. Power of Instagram for
S-Commerce in Travel
Blueclaw
Caroline Bremner, Head of Travel Research

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2POWER OF INSTAGRAM FOR S-COMMERCE IN TRAVEL
Euromonitor International
network and coverage

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The life social and the rise of platforms
POWER OF INSTAGRAM FOR S-COMMERCE IN TRAVEL
▪ By 2020, four billion internet users forecast,
and this year over half of the global
population will be connected
▪ Social media users worldwide at 3.5 billion,
with a penetration of 45%
▪ In June 2019, Facebook had 2.4 billion
monthly active users, while one billion for
Instagram, of which 50% use the site daily

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S-commerce early days
POWER OF INSTAGRAM FOR S-COMMERCE IN TRAVEL
▪ In 2019, only 24% of global respondents had
bought something online via a social media
platform in the last six months, compared to
70% that interact with brands on social media
▪ The proportion buying from social media is
much higher in emerging markets, where it is
32% compared to 13% in advanced markets,
led by Generation Z and Millennials
▪ S-commerce in Southeast Asia is some five
years ahead of the West

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S-commerce appeals to young,
emerging market consumers
POWER OF INSTAGRAM FOR S-COMMERCE IN TRAVEL
▪ Consumers are slowly transitioning to social
channels to interact with brands and retailers,
as well as to make purchases
▪ Use of social networks as a commerce
channel is highest among emerging market
consumers, as well as those under the age of
30 years
▪ Asian Gen Z lead their global counterparts
when it comes to buying via a social media
platform

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Timeline of key events for Facebook and Instagram
•2004 Facebook incorporated in 2004
•2010 Instagram launched as a photo sharing app
•2012 Facebook acquired Instagram for USD1 billion
•2012 Facebook launched its IPO on Nasdaq in May
•2014 Facebook acquired mobile messaging site, WhatsApp
•2016 Launch of Facebook marketplace
•2018 Shopping in Stories and Shopping in Explore launched, along with other s-commerce features
•2019 Instagram reached one billion users of which half of them used the site every day
Launch of Checkout on Instagram for Shopping in March 2019
Launch of @shop curated account for emerging brands
POWER OF INSTAGRAM FOR S-COMMERCE IN TRAVEL

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7POWER OF INSTAGRAM FOR S-COMMERCE IN TRAVEL
▪ Traditionally, brands on Instagram take a subtle approach to discovery and awareness
▪ Build up a community, engaging directly to humanise the brand by crafting a personality
▪ 25 million business profiles on Instagram in 2019 and Insta enjoyed the second highest level of
engagement in the US in 2018 (eMarketer)
▪ 130 million people clicked on Shopping posts in 2019
▪ Checkout on Instagram introduced by Nike and H&M to allow for payments in the app in the US
▪ Significant development in April 2019 when Instagram started to trial the removal of “likes” from
posts to help with digital wellbeing
▪ S-commerce helps the company find new revenue streams as future advertising stream could be
impacted by weakened influencer marketing
Instagram - from marketing tool to sales

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Travel brands engagement outweighs reach
POWER OF INSTAGRAM FOR S-COMMERCE IN TRAVEL
▪ Key travel brands on Instagram deliver quite
low numbers of followers, given Nike has 90
million followers #justdoit”
▪ Airbnb has done a good job on Instagram with
4.2 million followers in July 2019, showcasing
the best of its short-term rental homes
▪ Airbnb worked with travel influencers for
Coachella by providing cool places to stay
▪ None of the brands reviewed have the buy
now call to action buttons

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Seamless discovery to booking - easyJet
POWER OF INSTAGRAM FOR S-COMMERCE IN TRAVEL
▪ easyJet’s new Look&Book feature on its app
allows users to take a screengrab of an
Instagram picture, load it up to the app to
locate the place to then book flights
▪ AI image search technology and geotagging
against Instagram’s databank of images,
developed for easyJet by VCCP and Travelport
Digital
▪ Shortening the window between inspiration
and booking speeds up the booking process
and narrows the expectation gap to better
match demand with supply

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From influencer roots to fully-fledged
operators – Traveling Jackie
POWER OF INSTAGRAM FOR S-COMMERCE IN TRAVEL
▪ Traveling Jackie started out as a blogger and
on social media with The Budget-Minded
Traveler blog and podcast and offered her
first tour in 2016
▪ Now "with her new brand JUMP
Experiences", she offers group adventure
tours as well as women’s personal
development retreats
▪ Chilean Patagonia - USD4,300 for eight
nights, across mountains, glaciers and caves
including kayaking, hiking and ice trekking
“Since my podcast is one-way
communication, I love using Instagram to
interact in real-time, on a more personal level
with my audience. It is essential to my
business.”
Jackie Nourse, Traveling Jackie

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Monetising content to drive direct bookings
– Six Travel
POWER OF INSTAGRAM FOR S-COMMERCE IN TRAVEL
▪ Six Travel has built a hotel booking app based
on the Instagram ecosystem
▪ Allows creators to monetise content for the
first time, where followers can book hotels by
swiping up in Instagram Stories or in bio
▪ For hotels, it allows them to deal more
directly
▪ App aims to boost conversion for hotels and
puts hotels directly in touch with influencers
that help promote sales

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Digital wellbeing requires balance
POWER OF INSTAGRAM FOR S-COMMERCE IN TRAVEL
▪ The physical and mental impacts of excessive
time spent online are now recognised with
tech giants providing tools to control activity
▪ Instagram added features that log time spent
on the platform in Your Activity and “You’re
All Caught Up” for your feed
▪ Instagram may move into the offline world,
offering meet-ups with influencers, moving
into the events space and lifestyle classes

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Visual search to buy
POWER OF INSTAGRAM FOR S-COMMERCE IN TRAVEL
▪ In 2018, Pinterest launched its Shop the Look
pins in the UK, France, Germany and Japan,
allowing users to shop/buy products
▪ Snapchat partnered with Amazon, launching
shoppable Snap ads and providing product
catalogues
▪ Google Lens uses a image search technology
to identify and locate products for sale
▪ Works from Google Assistant, the phone’s
camera app and Google Photos, using AI and
AR technology
▪ Facebook’s acquisition of GrokStyle in 2019 -
computer vision technology integrated into
IKEA’s mobile app using AR to match products

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Libra offers potential but not guaranteed
POWER OF INSTAGRAM FOR S-COMMERCE IN TRAVEL
▪ Facebook announced the launch of its digital
currency, Libra
▪ Cryptocurrency will be supported by open
source blockchain, backed by companies such
as Visa, Mastercard, Uber, PayPal
▪ Highly disruptive to financial services and will
bring online the 1.7 billion unbanked in
emerging markets who will now be able to
pay for goods and products on their phones
▪ Regulators concerned about scams and fraud
▪ Potential of Libra for Instagram could be
huge, if the currency becomes accepted and
trusted by consumers and gets past regulators

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What the future holds for social travel sales
on Instagram
Instagram will continue to be a pivotal tool in the inspiration and discovery stage of the trip, where brands can
enjoy deeper engagement with their audience by connecting with them directly and in a more personal way.
Further roll out of the shopping functionality to travel products and services will help to shorten the booking
window. Call to action buttons rolled out to hotels, flights, experiences, in the medium to long term
Social influencers will continue to generate interest in travel, and new business models that help monetise
curator content will grow. Moves to remove the number of likes for a post will lead to influencers adapting and
finding new ways to quantify their engagement.
Weaving in payments thanks to Libra and Facebook payments will pave the way to further travel bookings.
Ensuring that the payments support and customer service are in place will be critical. This may lead to Facebook
rolling out its own digital assistant to help provide 24/7 customer service, and compete with Alexa and Siri.

16. Contact details
Caroline Bremner, Head of Travel Research
Caroline.bremner@euromonitor.com
Facebook.com/Euromonitor
@CarolineBremner
www.linkedin.com/in/carolinebremner1/