Mall retailer Charlotte Russe recently tried out Curalate’s Like2Buy mcommerce solution and saw a 60 percent click-through rate from the Like2Buy page to product pages.

From the back end, Charlotte Russe’s marketing team has easily integrated the Like2Buy tool in its Curalate-powered posting and scheduling system used for its Instagram account. A easy transition into social commerce, the combination of using Instagram and a seamless solution system has given Charlotte Russe a new route for revenue.

“We plan to use this system throughout the holiday season,” said Kristen Strickler, social media manager at Charlotte Russe, San Francisco. “It’s just so great that we can now track the traffic and see that customers aren’t just going to our Web site homepage; they’re going to actual product pages, usually more than one.”

Impressive numbers
With more than 415,000 followers, images shared to the Charlotte Russe’s Instagram account generate thousands of likes and comments, but similar to many other brands, Charlotte Russe had no way to measure that engagement in terms of ROI.

Leveraging Instagram’s live link, Curalate’s Like2Buy solution enables Charlotte Russe to turn its images into a gallery of shoppable products, a critical step in driving on-site traffic, discovery and intent.

To get started, the team linked images from its Like2Buy account, including those posted historically, to product pages on the Charlotte Russe Web site. Once users arrive on a product page, they are able to take advantage of product photos, descriptions, reviews, size charts and more.

Since launching, Charlotte Russe has generated thousands of unique visits to its Like2Buy gallery, and on an average day, 61 percent of users that clicked on Like2Buy did so more than once. In addition, 60 percent of Like2Buy visitors also clicked through to a product page. In less than six weeks, the implementation has amounted to more than 13,000 clicks to its Web site.

Visitors referred from Like2Buy are spending 32 percent longer on brands’ Web sites than the average mobile user.

Charlotte Russe initially launched its Web site in 2008 and its mobile site in 2012. With the help of Curalate, Charlotte Russe is expanding its presence via mobile and social.

Evolvement with mobile
Charlotte Russe also recently announced it will begin using the cloud-based PeopleMatter Platform for streamlined hiring and training techniques for employees on mobile devices.

Since the clothing chain targets a teen and young adult demographic, it will be integrating the technology nationwide to automate the hiring process. The brand believes that the platform’s mobile and social capabilities will resonate with potential applicants and employees by using their preferred channels of communication (see story).

Retailers Target and Nordstrom have also used Like2Buy to boost their mcommerce numbers.

In a recent example of how social commerce is quickly gaining steam, Target and Nordstrom have bet the enthusiasm of Instagram users will translate to sales by making it easy to purchase products on display on the retailers’ social network profiles.

Consumers have been known to spend hours scouring Instagram for images of the exact product they want. Now, these users are able to purchase items from brands participating in the program with just a few clicks (see story).

“We know for a fact than fans are going to Instagram to search our posts to get inspiration,” Ms. Strickler said. “Through Curalate’s Like2Buy, we can get them to our product pages more quickly.

“It has been phenomenal,” she said.

Final Take
Caitlyn Bohannon is an editorial assistant on Mobile Commerce Daily, New York