Open SaaS ecommerce platform company BigCommerce Holdings Inc. (BIGC:NASDAQ), which caters to both fast-growing and established brands, today announced that it has teamed up with Facebook Inc. (FB:NADAQ) to make direct checkout available to eligible U.S. merchants via Instagram. The firm stated that "BigCommerce merchants can be among the first to adopt the new feature, which provides shoppers an intuitive, seamless and secure way to purchase products they discover on Instagram in a few clicks, without leaving the app."
The company noted that its native integrated platform interfaces with Facebook's Commerce Manager, allowing merchants to easily integrate their ecommerce storefront's catalog to Instagram. This enables customers to purchase their favorite brands directly via Instagram instead of having to search for or follow a link to a brand's website in order to complete a purchase. After an order is placed, customers are able to view their order status, estimated delivery date, tracking number and obtain full customer support services directly through the Instagram app.
The company's CEO Brent Bellm commented, "Creating a streamlined checkout experience is paramount for merchants looking to social commerce to drive revenue growth. The rollout of checkout on Instagram is another significant step in Instagram's evolution toward becoming an essential commerce channel for customer-focused brands...BigCommerce is proud to be one of a select group of partners to offer their customers access to this innovative new feature at launch."
The firm advised that several experience-driven brands such as Badgley Mischka, DressUp and Spearmint Love have already tested the newly available checkout feature and can now showcase checkout-enabled products in their Instagram posts.
The company stated that this added capability allows brands and merchants to meet customers where they already are and by utilizing checkout via Instagram brings the firms products closer to the more than 130 million monthly shoppers who interact with brands' shoppable Instagram content.
Katie Ouaknine, CEO and owner of Badgley Mischka Web, the ecommerce business unit of luxury fashion brand Badgley Mischka, remarked, "Instagram checkout has given us the ability to turn beautiful imagery into shoppable experiences for our customers, allowing them to buy new items while scrolling through their feed, all without missing a beat...Using Instagram through BigCommerce's integration makes fulfilling orders and communicating with customers seamless alongside other sales channels."
Vishal Shah, VP of product at Instagram, added, "BigCommerce provides businesses of all sizes the tools they need to serve their customers. That's why we're excited to work with BigCommerce to make the path to purchase as streamlined as possible with checkout on Instagram."
BigCommerce is headquartered in Austin, Tex., and described its business as "a leading open software-as-a-service (SaaS) ecommerce platform that empowers merchants of all sizes to build, innovate and grow their businesses online." The company stated it has tens of thousands of B2B and B2C clients in 120 countries who use its services and platform.
BigCommerce Holdings started the day with a market capitalization of around $4.7 billion with approximately 61.82 million shares outstanding. BIGC shares opened slightly higher today at $77.055 (+$1.005, +1.32%) over yesterday's $76.05 closing price. The stock has traded today between $75.01 and $103.90 per share and is currently trading at $96.30 (+$20.25, +26.63%).
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