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Instagram Just Became More Shoppable

By: Angela Besprozvanny    April 26, 2019

Instagram has taken their shopping posts to the next level. A new update allows consumers to buy products from brands without leaving the app. When a user interacts with a shoppable post, they’ll now see a “Checkout on Instagram” button on the product page to proceed to payment within the app.

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Instagram aims to remove the need for people to navigate to the browser when they’re ready to buy. Once an order is complete, Instagram will save the payment information for future purchases. Shoppers will receive in-app notifications about shipment and delivery to keep track of the purchase, initiate a return or request additional support. The new process should enhance the shopping experience, but may also face criticism from users not willing to share their payment information given the privacy scandals from Facebook.

Instagram now has 130 million users tapping on product tags every month so it’s important to gain trust from those users for this feature to be successful. A handful of partnerships helped launch the new checkout tool, including a partnership with Paypal, which is one of the payment options. BigCommerce is also an early partner for the tool, enabling businesses to make Instagram transactions. Instagram hand-picked select retailers in the U.S. for beta testing to provide feedback before the company releases the tool to all brands. It’s currently only being tested for organic posts, but can be a huge opportunity for ecommerce once rolled out to advertisers.