The head of Instagram has laid out his long-term vision to tap into the social media app’s user base and move further into the online retail space.

The app’s new boss Adam Mosseri said he hoped to leverage Instagram’s more than one billion users around the globe to “connect the dots thoughtfully” between shoppers, sellers and influencers, and detailed plans for “native checkout” and “shopping bags” functions, in an interview with the Financial Times.

The former Facebook executive said Instagram “can unlock a lot of value from everyone involved” in ecommerce but stressed that retail was a long-term plan for Instagram that would require significant investment.

“The world is hyper-fragmented. So it’s a very, very long lead time. This isn’t a one-year thing, this is like a 5-10 year project.”

Mosseri said Instagram would look to new data and analytics around customer spending patterns that would “give an indication of what sort of commercial activity or products individuals were interested in” to help it target advertising.

In March, Instagram said it would be allowing 20 fashion brands – including Nike, H&M and Zara – to sell directly to US customers on its platform through a partnership with PayPal.

In May, luxury retailer Yoox Net-a-Porter founder and chief executive Federico Marchetti told the World Retail Congress that customers would be able to purchase its products directly on Instagram.

Tech. 2019

How retailers can partner with social media to achieve a competitive advantage within the industry is one of topics being discussed at Tech. this year.

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