Instagram Adds Personalized Shopping Channel To Explore Tab

Following a leak alleging as much, Instagram has officially launched a new e-commerce feature in its main app. A new experience and an update to an existing one has arrived, the first involving a new Shopping channel located in the Explore tab; the other is an expansion of Shopping in Stories. The new shopping experience will be available globally.

The new Shopping channel in Explore is personalized for each user and features shopping posts, those published by brands the user follows. Posts within this channel feature a shopping bag in the upper corner, making it obvious what the post is about. The channel is designed for discovery as much as it is shopping.

In addition, Instagram is expanding the Shopping in Stories feature it started testing in June. The feature is rolling out to users around the world and being made available to companies in 46 countries. Brands can publish Stories featuring their products, which viewers can tap on to learn more about.

Users may see, for example, a particular article of clothing featured on a model. If they like what they see, they can tap a button that takes them to details and a better image of the product. That will then give them the option to go to the brand's website where they can purchase the item.

Shopping in Stories is being expanded to users around the world starting today; the Shopping channel in Explore is also rolling out as of today, though Instagram says it'll arrive globally in "coming weeks."

SOURCE: Instagram