It’s been some time since our last industry analysis, so I thought we’d look at Retail this time. It’s a very big industry that’s super popular on social media like Facebook and Instagram.

Just like before, we’ll be going through multiple sections and analyzing how Retail posts are faring on Facebook and Instagram. The objective is to find out which platform is better in this industry.

I’ll be using Emplifi for the data, as always. Here are the main sections I’ll be going through:

Sections

I. Total Interactions Distribution of Retail Brand Pages/Profiles on Facebook & Instagram

II. Median Post Interactions for Facebook & Instagram on Retail Posts

III. Relative Median Post Interactions for Facebook & Instagram on Retail Posts

IV. Median Post Engagement Rate for Facebook & Instagram on Retail Posts

V. Distribution of Post Types on Facebook for Retail Posts

VI. Distribution of Post Types on Instagram for Retail Posts

VII. Organic Performance of Post Types on Facebook for Retail Posts

VIII. Organic Performance of Post Types on Instagram for Retail Posts

IX. Top Performing Retail Pages on Facebook

X. Top Performing Retail Profiles on Instagram

XI. Relative Expenditure by Platform Position on Facebook & Instagram for Retail Posts

XII. Click-Through Rate by Platform Position on Facebook & Instagram for Retail Posts

XIII. Click Through Rate for Retail Posts on Facebook & Instagram

XIV. Cost per Click for Retail Posts on Facebook & Instagram

XV. Expenditure for Retail Posts on Facebook & Instagram

There’s quite a lot to go through, so I’ll leave the main highlights below and if you’re interested in the specifics, go through the main chapters below:

Highlights

• Retail posts get 15.5% of the total interactions on Facebook and 8.1% on Instagram
• Instagram receives around 7 times more medial post interactions for Retail posts than Facebook
• Facebook provides more stable Retail post interactions, while Instagram is less stable in its engagement
• Instagram is considerably more engaging than Facebook for Retail posts
• Photo posts account for 80% of the total number of Retail posts on Facebook, followed by 12% of video posts
• Image posts are the most popular type of posts on Instagram (52-40% usage) for the Retail niche
• Reel posts are exploding in usage on Instagram for the Retail niche (31% usage)
• On average, Facebook live video posts have the most median post interactions in the Retail niche – a whopping 31 interactions
• On average, Instagram Reel posts have the most median post interactions in the Retail niche, at 61 interactions
• 29 Jewellery was the top-performing page on Facebook with over 24.1 million interactions
• A101 was the top-performing profile on Instagram with over 12.5 million followers and 15.5 million interactions
• The Facebook Feed attracts the most investments from Retail brands (49%). That’s likely because Facebook is the most versatile platform and reaches the widest audience spectrum
• The Instagram Feed also attracts a substantial share of the investment (18%) from Retail brands. This shows the platform’s growing importance in marketing. Instagram seamlessly integrates its feed with the users’ content, which leads to more authentic target audience acquisition for brands
• Instagram Stories get 11% investments while Facebook Video Feeds get 4% and the Instream Videos get 3%. It appears as though Instagram is more impactful and leaves users with a more commercial-inclined mindset after watching the ads on the platform.
• The Facebook Feed has a 1.68% click-through rate for Retail posts, which is the highest click-through rate among other communication channels, including the Instagram feed (0.3%). Instagram pales in comparison to Facebook on this level
• The cost per click of Retail posts has increased from $0.12 to $0.14 from May 2022 to May 2023 after fluctuating during the year
• The Click Through Rate of Retail Posts has remained the same (1.26%) from May 2022 to May 2023, after fluctuating a bit
• Retail posts have a higher CPC (cost-per-click) than the worldwide industry average
• The Expenditure of Retail Posts has increased from $5,900 to $8,200 from May 2022 to May 2023

Let’s get started!

Section I: Total Interactions Distribution of Retail Brand Pages/Profiles on Facebook & Instagram

To understand how the Retail industry fares against other industries, I’ll show you the total interaction distribution for Facebook and Instagram pages/profiles.

This will tell us how popular Retail is on social media, and how effective Retail marketing is on the two platforms.

Here’s the data:

Industry	Instagram Profiles / Share of Interactions	Facebook Pages / Share of Interactions
eCommerce	25.4%	25.2%
Retail	8.1%	15.5%
Services	8.4%	9.6%
Beauty	6.1%	2.1%
Sporting Goods	4.9%	Not Applicable
Finance	Not Applicable	5.6%
Fashion	19.4%	5.5%
Electronics	3.1%	4.1%
Fmcg Food	Not Applicable	4%
Auto	7.4%	Not Applicable
Telecom	Not Applicable	4%
Others	17.1%	26.5%

Retail is the second-most popular industry on both Facebook and the fourth-most popular on Instagram, receiving an 8.1% share of the total interactions on Instagram and 15.5% on Facebook.

In this initial analysis, Facebook appears to bring more eyeballs to Retail posts, and knowing that Facebook’s userbase is larger than Instagram’s, this translates to exponentially more user interactions.

However, things aren’t as black and white in the end, as you’ve seen from previous analyses. Let’s dig a bit deeper and maybe we’ll find out that Instagram is better by providing more valuable interactions than Facebook.

Section II: Median Post Interactions for Facebook & Instagram on Retail Posts

The median post interactions show us an average of monthly interactions for Retail posts, both on Facebook and Instagram.

This statistic will give us a better understanding of which platform brings the most interactions, on average, for Retail posts.

Take a look at the data:

Period	Facebook Median Post Interactions	Instagram Median Post Interactions
May 2022	8 interactions	56 interactions
July 2022	8 interactions	50 interactions
September 2022	7 interactions	54 interactions
November 2022	7 interactions	56 interactions
January 2023	8 interactions	53 interactions
March 2023	8 interactions	53 interactions
May 2023	8 interactions	51 interactions

There it is – the difference. Instagram brings many more median post interactions than Facebook to Retail posts. About 7-8 times more interactions per month, which isn’t at all a small difference.

However, this begs the question from the previous statistic. If Retail was the second most popular industry on Facebook, receiving 15.5% of all interactions for industries, why does it have so few median post interactions?

The answer to that question could be because Facebook users don’t really interact that much with these types of posts on the platform to begin with.

We also notice that both Facebook and Instagram’s median post interactions remain fairly stable throughout the year, which how just how popular Retail is. It’s one of the industries that retains audience attention all year long.

Section III: Relative Median Post Interactions for Facebook & Instagram on Retail Posts

In this section, I’ll show the evolution line of the median post interaction rates of Facebook and Instagram across a period of one year.

The starting point is May 2022, which is at 100% (the highest number of median post interactions). From that point on, we’ll see how the median post interactions have changed over time. This will give us a better understanding of the volatility of these platforms for Retail posts.

Cue the chart:

Period	Facebook Relative Median Post Interactions	Instagram Relative Median Post Interactions
May 2022	100%	100%
July 2022	100%	84%
September 2022	90 %	90%
November 2022	85%	93%
January 2023	92%	93%
March 2023	100%	91%
May 2023	100%	83%

As you can see, Facebook had a steadier evolution in terms of median post interactions, coming back to its maximum number of interactions 3 times during the year (July 2022, March 2023, and May 2023).

Instagram, on the other hand, is more volatile and has been on a downward trend, with a 17% decrease in median post interactions over the course of the recorded year. As always, we notice that Facebook is less chaotic and a more stable playground for advertisers.

However, we should also consider Instagram’s much bigger engagement for every Retail post. The platform brings exponentially more eyeballs and interactions per post compared to Facebook. Even after its 17% decrease, Instagram has 4-5 times more median post interactions per Retail post compared to Facebook.

It’s worth nothing that, toward the end of the recorded period (May 2023 and onward), both Facebook and Instagram seemed to experience a decrease in median post interactions.

Section IV: Median Post Engagement Rate for Facebook & Instagram on Retail Posts

The engagement rate shows us how effective each platform is at converting a Retail post view into an interaction, whether that’s a like, a comment, or a click.

This is also an important aspect when choosing a platform to focus on with your marketing campaign. Engagement leads to clicks, which might lead to converted clients. So it’s a very important metric to consider.

Here’s how engagement looks like on Facebook and Instagram:

On average, Instagram’s median post engagement rate is 5-6 times higher than Facebook’s. This is the reason why the former produces more interactions per Retail post. Either the posts are more engaging or the platform attracts more engagement by default.

I’m fairly sure that Instagram is innately more engaging than Facebook due to its native userbase, interface, and how the platform enables user interaction.

Both platforms’ median post engagement rate has declined over the recorded year, though Instagram has suffered a smaller decline overall.

So, again we see that Instagram is superior to Facebook in terms of engagement on Retail posts. This might be because Facebook is a much more unfocused platform, with posts from all spheres of interest filling the public space at any given time.

Instagram, on the other hand, is a bit more specialized. Content creators are usually industry-specific (beauty, retail, cosmetics, etc.). There are plenty of memes and funny materials on Instagram too, just less so than on Facebook.

Section V: Distribution of Post Types on Facebook for Retail Posts

For this section, I’ll show you what types of posts are favored on Facebook for the Retail industry. This will give us some insight on the experience of other Retail brands.

If they’re using a certain type of post type, it either means that it’s very engaging or it’s favored by the userbase for that specific industry.

Let’s see the data:

Period	Share of Video Posts	Share of Status Posts	Share of Link Posts	Share of Photo Posts	Share of Live Video Posts
May 2022	12%	2%	7%	80%	1%
July 2022	12%	2%	7%	80%	1%
September 2022	12%	2%	6%	80%	1%
November 2022	12%	2%	6%	80%	1%
January 2023	12%	2%	4%	80%	1%
March 2023	12%	2%	4%	80%	1%
May 2023	12%	2%	4%	80%	1%

As always, photo posts are at an all-time usage, even in the Retail industry. The usage stays at 80% throughout the year, not budging an inch. The second most used type of post format is video, which makes sense given the nature of Retail.

The rest of the post formats (link, status, and live video) are barely used at all, most likely within very specific use-case scenarios. For the most part, photos and videos are the norm, and that’s to be expected from a visual industry like Retail.

For this analysis, Emplifi analyzed 25,280 Facebook retail pages all over the world, so the results should be very accurate.

Section VI: Distribution of Post Types on Instagram for Retail Posts

Now let’s look at Instagram’s post distribution for Retail content. We have four types of content on the platform at the moment:

• Video
• Image
• Carousel
• Reels

Here’s what Emplifi found:

Period	Share of Video Posts	Share of Carousel Posts	Share of Image Posts	Share of Reel Posts
May 2022	11%	29%	52%	7%
July 2022	10%	27%	48%	11%
September 2022	6%	26%	46%	22%
November 2022	5%	27%	44%	25%
January 2023	3%	26%	44%	27%
March 2023	2%	28%	41%	29%
May 2023	2%	28%	40%	31%

You’ll notice a few trends while looking at the distribution of Instagram post types for the Retail industry:

• Video and Image posts have decreased in usage over the year
• Carousel posts have largely retained the same usage
• Reel posts have increased in usage significantly
• Image posts are still the most used types of posts for the Retail industry
• Reel posts are closing in on image posts in terms of usage

Just as with other industries, we’re seeing a shift in usage from image and video posts to Reel posts. Over the course of a year (May 2022 – May 2023), the usage of Reel posts has increased from 7% to 31%, while image and video posts have decreased in usage accordingly.

Carousel posts have retained most of their usage, even when considering the shift to Reel posts. This could mean that users prefer posts with more media (photos or videos). It provides more value to them.

Section VII: Organic Performance of Post Types on Facebook for Retail Posts

Next, we’ll see how well Retail posts are performing on Facebook, given then organic performance based on post types. So, you’ll know exactly which post types are more engaging for the Retail niche.

Here’s the data:

Post Type	Median Post Interactions
Live Video	31
Status	6
Video	6
Link	5
Photo	5

Live videos have the best organic performance on Facebook for the Retail industry, reaching around 31 median post interactions per post. This isn’t that surprising since live reacts to products/services always attract attention.

They’re also perceived as being more honest and people tend to trust these reacts more than prepared scripts.

Video, link, photo and status posts have almost the same organic performance, so it doesn’t seem to be any difference between them. And yet, as we’ve seen before, photo posts are the most popular type of post for the Retail industry. Others are far behind it.

This might mean that live videos aren’t suitable for a lot of content in the Retail industry. Photos, on the other hand, are a match to any industry.

Section VIII: Organic Performance of Post Types on Instagram for Retail Posts

Now let’s look at the same statistic but for Instagram – the organic performance for Retail posts on Instagram based on the post type.

Based on previous industry analyses, Instagram should have substantially more interactions than Facebook. Let’s see:

Post Type	Median Post Interactions
Reel	61
Carousel	51
Video	51
Image	32

The situation looks a lot better on Instagram where all post types have a lot of median post interactions. The most engaging post type is the Reel, followed by the Carousel, Video, and Image.

Instagram is also a bit inconsistent across multiple layers of analysis, though. For instance, Images appear to be the most used type of content for Retail, yet we now see that Image posts get the fewest median post interactions per post.

Even videos and carousels, which are severely underutilized, get more median post interactions. Reels are the most popular, which seems in line with their growing popularity.

So far, Instagram seems to be the optimal choice for a quicker brand development on social media. It brings much more engagement and interactions compared to Facebook. And retail is a perfect match for the visual-focused platform that is Instagram.

Facebook’s worst-performing post type for Retail brings 5 median post interactions per post, while Instagram’s worst-performing post type brings 32 median post interactions.

Instagram brings almost 7 times more interactions on that post type alone.

Section IX: Top Performing Retail Pages on Facebook

Below, I’ll show you the most popular Retail pages on Facebook that are performing the best. I’ll show you the:

• Number of fans
• Number of posts
• Number of interactions

This should give you a better idea of what popular Retail pages look like on Facebook, giving you a realistic goal when developing your brand.

Take a look below:

Brand Name	Fans	Posts	Interactions
29 Jewellery	1,709,190	2,286	24,190,320
Zwe Htet Gold & Jewellery Channel 1	6,100,486	2,085	9,474,808
Zwe Htet Gold & Jewellery Channel 2	5,634,039	2,046	9,214,917
Express Cars UK	362,974	1,125	8,489,357
Raneen Page	6,346,392	1,263	4,811,303
Style Echo	2,354,958	868	4,778,613

These pages are ordered based on their number of interactions. The most popular Retail page on Facebook is 29 Jewellery, with 24 million interactions, 2,286 posts, and 1.7 million fans.

This page also seems to be extremely engaging since they’re getting 24 million interactions from only 1.7 million followers.

The second-most performant page is Zwe Htet Gold and Jewellery, with 6.1 million fans and only 9.4 million interactions. They have almost 6 times the number of followers but 2.5 times fewer interactions.

Express Cars UK seems to be even more engaging than 29 Jewellery, though. It has only 362,974 followers, 1,125 posts but almost 8.5 million interactions. Every since one of their posts attracts a lot of attention, and their followers are very loyal.

Section X: Top Performing Retail Profiles on Instagram

Now we’ll see the top-performing Retail profiles on Instagram and see the difference in engagement between the two platforms.

Here’s the data:

Brand Name	Followers	Posts	Interactions
A101	12,542,875	1,237	15,521,872
BIM Turkiye	11,885,707	913	15,300,384
Keystone Automotive Operations	1,020,725	501	10,541,538
Șok Marketler	8,075,912	1,056	7,922,127
Pichau	661,633	499	5,193,145
Big Boy Toyz	2,067,256	127	4,686,119

A101 is the top-performing Retail on profile based on the number of interactions. However, I’d say that Keystone Automotive Operations fares a lot better.

That’s because they only have 1 million followers and 10.5 million interactions. A101 has 12.5 million followers and 15.5 million interactions.

Keystone brings much more engagement per post from ten 12 times fewer followers and 2 times fewer posts. They have to be doing something right.

Section XI: Relative Expenditure by Platform Position on Facebook & Instagram for Retail Posts

Next, I’ll show you the relative expenditure for Retail posts based on the platform position on both platforms. Basically, how much money is spent for ads on Retail posts based on the post types?

We’ll see the share of expenditure for each post type:

Communication Channel	Relative Spend (in %)
Facebook Feed	49%
Instagram Feed	18%
Instagram Stories	11%
Facebook Video Feeds	4%
Facebook Instream Video	3%

Almost 50% of all the ad investment from Retail brands goes to the Facebook feed. This shows that Facebook is still the go-to social media platform for marketing, even in the Retail industry. Even though it’s less engaging than Instagram, brands still prefer it.

The Instagram Feed gets 18% and the Instagram Stories get 11% of the expenditure share, totaling 29%. Not too shabby, for now. Instagram does have fewer users than Facebook, which is why marketers aren’t spending as much money on it.

Still, Instagram Stories attract more investments compared to the Facebook video feed and Instream videos combined. I’d say that Instagram is on its way to replacing Facebook as the best social media platform for marketing. In a few years maybe…

Section XII: Click-Through Rate by Platform Position on Facebook & Instagram for Retail Posts

Now that you know which post types are attracting the most investments for the Retail industry, you should become aware of the Click-Through Rate on Facebook and Instagram.

Emplifi shows us the CTR by platform position for the top 5 content publishing methods on the two platforms;

• Facebook Feed
• Facebook Video Feeds
• Instagram Feed
• Instagram Stories
• Instagram Reels

Here’s the data:

Communication Channel	Click-Through Rate (in %)
Facebook Feed	1.68%
Facebook Video Feeds	0.9%
Instagram Feed	0.3%
Instagram Stories	0.27%
Instagram Reels	0.15%

The Facebook feed has the highest CTR out of all publishing methods on the two platforms (1.68%). By comparison, the Instagram Feed’s CTR is 5.6 times smaller, and it only gets worse for the Instagram Stories and Reels.

This shows us that Facebook is still incredibly engaging for Retail despite being less laser-focused on visual marketing as Instagram is. Its feed produces the highest CTR by far, out of all other publishing methods. Instagram can’t even compete with it. Yet.

Content published on the Facebook feed are likely to receive 5.6x more clicks compared to the Instagram feed simply because the Retail CTR is natively higher on Facebook. This doesn’t mean Instagram is useless but that you should still focus the bulk of your marketing on Facebook.

Remember, these statistics are performed based on the worldwide Retail Facebook and Instagram information available from Emplifi. So, this is a worldwide average of how Retail posts are performing on Facebook and Instagram in 2023.

Section XIII: Monthly Click-Through Rate for Retail Posts on Facebook & Instagram

Speaking of Click-Through Rate, I should show you the monthly CTR for the Retail industry as well as the worldwide industry average. The comparison will show us how good Retail is doing in terms of CTR.

Here’s what Emplifi says:

Period	Worldwide CTR	Retail CTR
May 2022	1.1%	1.26%
July 2022	1%	1.25%
September 2022	0.96%	1.24%
November 2022	0.94%	1.35%
January 2023	0.98%	1.35%
March 2023	0.9%	1.25%
May 2023	0.86%	1.26%

This is looking very good. Retail posts have a higher Click-Through Rate than the industry worldwide average for all other industry posts. It’s one of the best industry CTRs I’ve see to date, in fact.

Anything above 1% is already good but Retail posts are consistently pulling CTRs above 1.20% and going as high as 1.35% in the holiday season.

This shows us that Retail is an especially engaging and popular industry that attracts a lot of attention. Its popularity leads to a lot of clicks. This isn’t even accounting for the different types of posts on both platforms.

This means that Retail innately has a higher CTR than many other industries, which is looking good for any new publisher and/or brand.

Section XIV: Cost per Click for Retail Posts on Facebook & Instagram

Next, I’ll show you the cost-per-click (CPC) of the Retail posts on Facebook and Instagram. I’ll also showcase the difference between the worldwide industry CPC vs. the Retail CPC, to put things into perspective and see how more cheaper or expensive Retail is.

Look at the data below to see what I mean:

Period	Worldwide CPC	Retail CPC
May 2022	$0.19	$0.12
July 2022	$0.17	$0.11,5
September 2022	$0.17	$0.11
November 2022	$0.2	$0.11
January 2023	$0.16	$0.11
March 2023	$0.18	$0.11,5
May 2023	$0.2	$0.14

The Cost-per-Click of Retail posts is quite a bit under the worldwide industry average, which is a good thing. On average, you’ll be paying less for every click on your ads compared to other industries.

This is true for both Facebook and Instagram. I don’t have any data on either platform specifically, unfortunately. It would have been interesting to see which platform has the higher CPC for Retail posts. I’d wager it’s Facebook.

In the table above, we also see the seasonal trends having an impact on the CPC. As soon as the holiday season is coming close, the CPC is exploding, both for the industry average and the Retail industry.

All in all, the Cost-per-Click is a definite advantage of the Retail industry. It doesn’t happen often than a specific industry’s CPC is lower than the worldwide average for all industries.

Section XV: Expenditure for Retail Posts on Facebook & Instagram

Last but not least, I’ll show you the overall monthly expenditure for Retail Posts on Facebook and Instagram. I’ll also compare the worldwide average expenditure for all industries vs. the Retail expenditure to showcase any differences between the two.

Take a look below:

Period	Worldwide Expenditure (in USD)	Retail Expenditure (in USD)
May 2022	$3,000 – $2,900	$5,900 – $5,800
July 2022	$2,900 – $3,000	$5,800 – $6,000
September 2022	$3,000 – $3,900	$6,000 – $6,500
November 2022	$3,900 – $3,800	$6,500 – $6,300
January 2022	$3,800 – $3,000	$6,300 – $6,100
March 2022	$3,000 – $3,800	$6,100 – $8,200
May 2023	~$3,800	~$8,200

There you have it – more evidence that Retail is a good place to be in compared to other industries. Marketers are spending sometimes 2.5 times more money on Retail posts compared to the posts of other industries on Facebook and Facebook.

This means that those posts are worth a lot more to marketers. They bring exponentially more money than the expenses. Otherwise, it wouldn’t make much sense to spend this much if the gains didn’t justify the costs.

During the holiday season, costs are spiking up, going far above the worldwide average for industries. During normal months, the expenditure is around double that of the industry average. This shows a strong competition in the Retail sector, and lot to gain from spending money on ads and social media posts.

That’s all I have for you regarding the Retail sector on Facebook and Instagram. There are valid reasons for choosing either platform for marketing but I would suggest focusing on both to achieve the most performance.

Stick around for more guides on social media marketing!

Sources

1. Emplifi – Retail Worldwide