Instagram has become a huge social network and is about to take things into the next level. Most people are online looking for things they can buy or sell or where they can find them. It makes sense to have shopping features on social platforms where most people are today. This is because hundreds of millions of people access their social media platforms every day. That said, Instagram is testing shopping features for retailers to give users an opportunity to shop without necessarily exiting the app.
So, How Will This Work?
At the bottom left side of the post, there will be an icon labeled ‘Tap to View Products’. Tapping on this icon will reveal the names of the products tagged in the post and their prices. There can be as much as 5 items tagged. Tapping on the product will provide more details. All this will be happening on the Instagram app.
Additionally, there will be a ‘shop now’ link that users can tap on. Doing this will take the user to the retailer’s site where they can view and purchase the item. These are not categorized as ads though Instagram has ads with a buy button you can tap on.
For now, these features are on the testing stage therefore not available to all Instagram users.
According to Instagram, the features will appear on a group of users in the US. This is part of the testing as they roll out the project further and include more users. They expect to get recommendation and figure out how the products will be displayed for shoppers. They are also working on a save function that allows shoppers to save information for later action. This feature is expected to roll out worldwide as changes and improvements are made.
In the testing period, this feature will only involve 20 retail brands in the US. These are Abercrombie & Fitch, Warby Parker, BaubleBar, Coach, Hollister, J.Crew, Kate Spade New York, MVMT Watches, Levi’s Brand, Michael Kors, Target, JackThreads, Tory Burch, Chubbies, Shopbop, Lulus, and Macy’s.
This test will definitely be putting Instagram in Pinterest’s territory. It is not long since Pinterest made a similar update that highlight products on the images to give users an easier time shopping.
If you are an Instagram user, what are your views on this shopping feature and would you like to use it?
