Thanks to COVID-19 and my inherent laziness I have been shopping on IG quite a bit.
The challenge with IG is you don't know what you're buying until it gets to your door.

No physical shop so where do you return the stuff if you're unhappy?

Want to share two conversations from two IG shops when I told them that I'd like to pay on delivery.

IG shop 1: Sure thing. I'll send a few extra pieces in case that one doesn't work or if you want more.

IG shop 2: Our system is such that we only deliver if you first pay.

Then there's IG Shop 3 which needs me to DM for prices and I couldn't be bothered.

If you're running an IG business, you have to be conscious of ways an IG shop is different from a physical shop and tailor your business accordingly.

1. In a physical shop, the customer buys stuff they can see. IG is low-trust for the customer. You know what you're selling, the customer doesn't.
How do you earn that trust? How do you replicate a physical shop?

2. Shopping with algorithm is different from phsyical shopping. When I can't find my favorite coffee at Carrefour, I don't walk out and find it being sold right outside.

When I visit your IG page though, my stories will be full of your competitors.

3. Most of the things being sold on IG are impulse buys. You want to reduce the number of steps a customer takes to make a decision.
"DM for prices" costs you business.

Needing customers to place an order on a different platform = business lost.

Vendors will ask: What if I deliver and the customer doesn't pay?

Ask the customer to pay for delivery upfront (that's service they can see), then for the goods later on.

I've never understood "DM for prices" so I don't even know how to address that one. Would you shop in a supermarket where prices are blocked off and you had to talk to the manager?

There's nothing like "free size" especially when it comes to underwear / lingerie.

Tell your fave IG shop this. Pick a tape measure and give your customers actual sizes.

I mean. How is this even possible?

Another day, we will talk about why customers aren't your "dears".