SMART NEWS

Entrepreneurs Are Using Instagram to Sell Everything From Sweaters to Sheep

Instead of logging onto Amazon or hitting the mall, maybe the next time you need a sheep or a sweater, you should check Instagram

Rose Eveleth

Contributor

July 16, 2013

All things you can buy on Instagram. Rose Eveleth

For most people, Instagram is a way to share tastefully distressed photographs of their lives and meals. But some clever people have turned Instagram into a business.

In Kuwait, for example, some farmers are selling sheep. Quartz points to sheeps_sell’s Istagram account, with 2,460 followers. This handsome looking sheep got 152 likes. Quartz has some theories about why:

That may be because prices for sheep—sacrificed during religious events and special ceremonies—broke a new record last year. Ahead of the Eid-ul-Adha holiday, prices for the animal reached a peak of 150 Kuwaiti dinar ($525) per head due to higher feed costs.

According to the Atlantic, Kuwait might be ground zero for the Instagram sellers movement. There are manga comics, makeup services, sheep and women’s fashions. At the American University of Kuwait, they held an “Insta-Business Expo” recently. The University describes the expo this way:

Hooked on Instagram? Like to be updated with Kuwait’s latest trends on Instagram? Then the E&B Club of AUK has given you the chance to do so! The Entrepreneurship and Business Club of the American University of Kuwait is holding an “INSTA BUSINESS EXPO” which will consist of all your favorite and newest popular entrepreneurs that grew their businesses through Instagram. Not only that, there will be guest speakers by Entrepreneurs that made it through Instagram as well! Join them and have a great time during the expo and during their stage events which include musical bands and concerts. For more updates please follow the E&B Club on both Twitter and Instagram @EandB_AUK.

It’s not just Kuwait either. This Canadian woman sells clothes out of her closet. If you search Instagram for the tag #instasale you get thousands of hits for shoes, nail polish, watches, sweaters and more. Portland-based blogger Silicon Florist wrote that ” a picture is worth a thousand words, but an Instagram photo is worth a thousand bucks.” App developers are quickly realizing the power of Instagram as a marketplace. Chirpify, a company that allowed people to buy and sell from Twitter, has now launched on Instagram.

So the next time you need a sheep or a sweater, instead of hitting the mall or heading to Amazon, maybe you should check Instagram.