Is Instagram becoming the new shopping centre? It seems so, since one of the biggest names in fashion publishing – Vogue – is making its Instagram feed 'shoppable'. But can Vogue translate its 1.9 million followers and reputation as a taste-maker into significant sales?

Only 0.6% of online shopping is driven by social media, compared to e-mail, which drives 27%. Can Facebook’s Buy button, integrated into newsfeeds, encourage people to spend more when they're on social media? And are retailers really welcome on such a personal platform?

Facebook group Wavey Garms is a place for ‘cool’ people to sell their second-hand designer clothing – but not everyone gets accepted. With over 1,000 membership requests every week, what’s drawing the numbers?

Social media has long been explored as a retail platform, from peer-to-peer selling Facebook group Wavey Garms to shopping via Pinterest. In June 2014, tweets from shopping site The Fancy appeared with a ‘Buy Now’ button, letting customers buy directly from Twitter timelines.