It's no surprise that mobile has completely changed the way in which people discover and shop for products in store and online. Whether comparing prices, searching for deals or making a purchase, shoppers nowadays are relying on their phones more and more – creating unique opportunities for advertisers to personalise the shopping journey in new, engaging ways.

At this year's Shoptalk in Las Vegas, Instagram will be hosting a must-see space at Facebook's conference headquarters. As Instagram continues to evolve from a destination where businesses are discovered to a place where business is done, we'll be sharing with retailers at Shoptalk our platform's power to turn intent into action and drive real business results. From discovery to exploration to purchase, Instagram is increasingly innovating the retail industry and the ways that retailers connect with our unique community of 800 million.¹

Through immersive product experiences and creative ad formats, Instagram is helping retailers around the world stand out and inspire action like never before. Here are some of the different ways that we're helping to evolve and lead in the retail space at Shoptalk and beyond.

With more than 300 million on Instagram using stories every day to explore and share their passions, this fresh format is quickly changing the way that businesses connect with customers and inspire action. In fact, a third of the most viewed stories on Instagram come from businesses.² And this is because the visual nature of Instagram Stories allows advertisers to forge a more engaging connection with their audiences. As a result, businesses of various sizes are taking the endless possibilities of stories and making it their own – creating relevant content around their products and brand that inspires as much as it drives real business results.

Since launching shopping on Instagram in the US, we've made it easier for shoppers to explore their favourite products from the businesses they love and get all the information they need to make a purchase. Through a set of product features such as product tags, a shop tab on business profiles and an immersive view with more information and imagery, discovering products on Instagram is no longer a barrier, but a new opportunity for businesses to connect with customers when inspiration strikes. Now, people can seamlessly go from discovery to information and purchase in just a few taps, and do so in a way that's organic to the Instagram experience.

Instagram has always been a great place for people to discover and share their passions – especially when it comes to connecting with the businesses and brands they love. Staying true to this sense of discovery, the collection ad format provides people with another way to browse, explore and take action with businesses directly on Instagram by simply tapping the ad in feed. This interaction makes it easier for people to take the next step with a business, while allowing advertisers to tell a more integrated story in their ads on Instagram feed.³

Featuring up to 50 different products in a fast-loading shopping experience, the collection ad format enables businesses to seamlessly drive more purchase consideration and sales without people having to leave the Instagram app. Though only currently available to a select set of advertisers, we'll begin rolling out collection on Instagram to others in the coming months.⁴

We understand the challenges that retailers face on a day-to-day basis, which is why we're committed to creating and providing innovative solutions for the retail industry that help alleviate some of these barriers. If you'd like to learn more about how Instagram and Facebook's various shopping products and ad formats can improve the way your business sells products on mobile, then take a look at our retail solution's article here.

Also, if you happen to be attending this year's Shoptalk, then make sure that you pop by the Instagram space at Facebook's conference headquarters to experience our shopping solutions in person.