Instagram launches new ways to shop worldwide

By

Robin Driver

Published
Sep 18, 2018

Following an initial trial period, Facebook-owned image-sharing network Instagram rolled out two new ways for users around the world to shop on the platform on Monday, introducing Shopping in Stories and Shopping in Explore.

 
The first of these new features, initially tested out with a limited selection of brands in June, has been expanded to all eligible businesses, meaning that Instagram users in 46 countries can now tap products that they come across in stories from their favorite brands to find out more and shop them directly through the app.

With over 400 million accounts viewing content in Instagram’s Stories section every day and one third of the most viewed stories currently being posted by businesses, the new feature has real potential to help brands clinch sales, allowing consumers to make the journey from product discovery to purchase faster than ever.

The second new function entails the creation of a Shopping channel in Instagram’s Explore feature, bringing together all the shoppable posts made by brands that a given user follows, as well as by businesses suggested for them.
 
Shopping on Instagram was first launched in the UK in March and 90 million users have since started using the platform to find out more about shoppable products via Feed – promising figures for the social network’s new features as brands vie to engage with and sell to their consumers through increasingly diversified and dynamic channels.
 
At the beginning of the month, The Verge cited sources claiming that Instagram was in the process of developing a standalone shopping app that would allow users to browse collections of products from vendors that they follow. Instagram did not confirm the report at the time and further details concerning the possibility have not yet surfaced.  
 
Shopping in Stories is now available for Instagram users around the world. Shopping in Explore is being rolled out across global markets progressively over the next few months.