Day 8 - The Last Days of "DM for Availability" on Instagram
Local shopping apps should take aim at shops forced to use Instagram and Facebook to sell their wares
This is part 8 of a series on validating a product that seeks to connect local shoppers with local stores called ListIt. You can see the whole series here, or read yesterday’s article here.
Yesterday we talked about how difficult it can be to start and run a website for a small business. The average US business owner is in their 40s or 50s and works 50-60 hours per week. The average website takes weeks to make. These things don’t go together, hence the high price tag ($2K-$10K) to have someone do it for you.
In the vacuum of accessible alternatives, where desperate business owners grasp for any way to reach online customers that doesn’t involve coding or websites, many independent shops turn to Instagram- the photo sharing app- to sell their goods.
The routine goes like this: New stock comes in you want to sell. You post on Instagram advertising the new products. Maybe you get add the different available sizes to the description. Customers DM you to reserve the products, then they come into the store to purchase. After the reservations are in, you edit the post to tell people they’re unavailable.
It may not seem like the hardest process. But all that back and forth via messages in the app can be overwhelming, tracking sizes falls on the customers, and the post may not be able to show all of the new inventory considering only 10 photos are allowed per post.
While messaging and chat can be a useful way to tell individual customers your availability, a system which displays the exact variants and sizes available for each product, without the back and forth of managing chats- then writing down who’s reserved what can be quite annoying and time consuming. This is part of why reservations systems like Resy and Opentable can grant businesses that use them double-digit increases in sales numbers. Plus, automated systems work while you sleep, they keep better track than you can, and payments are secure.
For the above reasons, we at ListIt believe customer-facing inventory tracking tools for local shoppers are the future, in much the same way OpenTable reservations increase sales to new customers significantly, ListIt will introduce your inventory to shoppers in your area who may have never even heard of you.
We’re hoping to create a product so that no one ever has to write “DM for availability” in the social media bio again. Full stop.
Do you like the idea? Dislike it? Simply have questions? Reach out to me directly at james@listit.one and be sure to check out our website ListIt.one for updates and the beta product sign-up.