Down the Deep Spiral of Instagram Ads
Where do all the ads that you see online eventually lead to? Scrolling through Facebook or Instagram you’ll constantly be bombarded with hoards of ads screaming at you from your screen tempting you into buying a product you definitely don’t need. Scrolling through Instagram nowadays is almost like scrolling through a TV ad. Now more then ever it seems like at least every at least 10 posts you manage to have to constantly scroll through an ad for a seemingly random product.
Currently it seems as though most accounts are linked to what is called a drop shipping account. Dropshipping is an order fulfillment method that does not require a business to keep certain products in stock. Instead however the store sells the product, and passes on the sales order to a third-party supplier, who then ships the order to the customer.
The current issue with dropshippers and online stores is the growing popularity amongst sellers to just grow as fast and as far as possible. Meaning that they are trying to work diligently on building up their sales and establishing themselves as a credible store front property. The issue being that this new influx of “store shops” leads to misleading products and or results. Who is to blame though for this new age of shopping and abundance of shops are we supposed to go after the steady stream of ads that tend to paint a picture of these items as being a necessity or the sites that continue to allow these pages and stores to continue to exist?
Weebly founder and CEO David Rusenko is beginning to bring to light the problems that come with drop shipping. When it comes to the Weebly site Rusenko comments on the issues that come with these types of sites to summarize his main point he states that “What it comes down to is that we think that there is enough mass-produced, cheap crap in the world.” Drop shippers are what is essentially the middleman between the shopper and the buyer. Their main value comes from exposing customers to a variety of products that they would otherwise have never come upon. Along with Instagram there are many different brands and sites that have seem to pop up overnight, Rusenko refers to these as burner brands meaning they sell what they need and then disappear.
The whole system created a web of headaches for both the legitimate product seller and as well as the actual shipping source. Rusenko gives the prime example of Amazon being used as the actual product shipper. Dropship retailers will advertise on their sites and source through amazon, when the product arrives, and the buyer is unsatisfied that then begins the long hassle of trying to get the drop shipping “middleman” to try to correct that situation.
Lately they have begun to source their vast number of products from low-cost Chinese marketplaces like Aliexpress. From their they continue on to their own sites, and from their sites they continue to advertise on far and wide and they eventually trickle down onto both Facebook and Instagram, this is where the Instagram comes full circle with this issue. Web design owner Rusenko however seems to be more than willing to lose business and money over the abandonment of such practices on his site. “It’s awful because it’s hurting the real creative entrepreneurs, that are investing their blood, sweat and tears into creating these unique and amazing products.”
Overall the issue lies within the advertisers and those that continue to allow these sites to continue to thrive within the e-universe. Rusenko is setting a prime example by putting the actual product inventors at the forefront of the e-commerce community. By putting them first he is setting a precedent that will hopefully begin to take amongst other online retailers.That like he previously stated there is already too much crap out there. We need to work on creating an atmosphere of nothing but the best products for the everyday consumer, versus allowing these drop ship sellers to be able to continuously sell their subpar products.
