Strategy question
How would you decide whether to launch Instagram Shopping in a new country?
Practice this question out loud. An AI interviewer asks it, follows up like a real interviewer would, and scores your answer. Type or speak.
Start a mock interview on this question · Mock interview from a job description
What this question tests
Whether the candidate can structure a market entry decision using demand signals, competition, and operational readiness.
How to approach it
- Define the decision criteria upfront: market size, existing e-commerce penetration, payment and logistics readiness, and regulatory constraints.
- Assess demand signals in the candidate country, such as existing organic shopping activity and creator commerce behavior on Instagram already.
- Evaluate competition, for example strong local platforms like Rakuten in Japan, and whether Shopping adds a differentiated angle (social discovery) versus pure marketplaces.
- Check operational readiness: checkout, payments, and shipping partnerships available in that market.
- Recommend a go or no-go with a phased pilot, for example a limited creator-led pilot before full catalog rollout, and name the key risk.
What a strong answer includes
- Weighs a specific local competitor by name and explains Instagram Shopping's differentiated angle, discovery-led social commerce, rather than competing head-on.
- Proposes a staged pilot (limited sellers or categories) before a full launch to de-risk the investment.
- States a clear go/no-go recommendation instead of listing pros and cons without a conclusion.
Common mistakes
- Listing generic launch criteria without applying them to a specific country example.
- Failing to give a clear recommendation at the end.
Likely follow-up questions
- Which market would you pick first, and why?
- What would make you abandon the launch after the pilot?
More strategy questions
- How would you decide between showing more ads on the Facebook Newsfeed vs showing a "People you may know" recommendation widget?Meta · Strategy · Hard
- How would you decide whether to build a feature or fix a bug (assuming both take the same engineering effort)?Meta · Strategy · Easy
- An engineer suggests showing suggested Buy/Sell Groups on users' newsfeed instead of the People You May Know section. How do you determine if that is a good idea or not?Meta · Strategy · Medium
- Why should Facebook enter the dating market and how would you execute it?Meta · Strategy · Hard
- What should Airbnb's strategy be during the COVID-19 pandemic?Google · Strategy · Hard
- Imagine you're a PM at Amazon and you're working on a partnership with Facebook that has the goal of leveraging FB's friend network to drive Amazon sales. Walk through the lifecycle for building this integration/partnership.Amazon · Strategy · Hard
More questions from these companies
Learn the skill behind it
Chapters of the AI PM course that teach what this question tests.
- Chapter 4: Discovery and strategy for AI products
- Chapter 9: Prove it paid off: outcomes, economics, and pricing
- Chapter 14: Get the job: the AI PM interview loop