Instagram Expands In-App Shopping Feature to MENA Brands and Creators

Since introducing the feature in 2018, Instagram has allowed specific approved brands - mostly major industry leaders in fashion or tech - to sell products directly from the profiles, with posts enabled for users to shop and ship orders as you would on an e-commerce platform.

Instagram is now expanding the eligibility criteria to include many more countries, brands, creators and businesses. The feature will be available starting July 9th in Egypt, Algeria, United Arab Emirates, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia among other countries from across the world.

“Whether you are a musician selling merchandise or a food blogger expanding into your own cookware line, any eligible creator account with at least one eligible product can use Instagram’s shopping tags to drive people to their website to make a purchase,” reads the ann official statement released by Instagram.

The expansion will help the social media giant become a launchpad for direct B2C e-commerce, especially with the MENA region where there are 63 million active users. In the US, where the feature has been active for almost two years now, a study shows that a third of users have used the in-app shops feature. This May, Facebook also announced a new ‘Shops’ feature that will also rollout on Instagram, allowing brands to create their own digital storefronts on their profiles