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 canVoguetranslate 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.