Instagram Pilots Shopping Feature In US Markets, Gets Over 20 Brands On Board

Racing towards fertilising its social media platforms for e-commerce, Facebook Inc announced on Tuesday that it will start prototyping a shopping feature in the US markets with over 20 brands on board; including Adidas, H&M, Kylie Cosmetics and Michael Kors.

Unlike the feature introduced last September, only showing prices and directing to the shop’s website for checkout, this feature will now allow Instagram users based in the US to check-out without navigating from the social media app by clicking again after viewing the prices. The move is in line with Facebook’s plan to monetize higher-growth units like Instagram, as its centerpiece News Feed product struggles to generate fresh interest.

Instagram has more than 130 million users tapping to reveal product tags in shopping posts every month, up from 90 million in September, it said. Despite breaches and privacy scandals over the past few years from Facebook Inc, the company still seems to cling on optimism. Reuters reports that Ivan Feinseth, an analyst with Tigress Financial Partners, says that the Facebook is planning on adding even another feature where users click on ads and buy products right away.