In its bid to further develop its platform’s shopping features, Instagram has announced it is expanding Shopping in Stories and a new Shopping channel in Explore.
Instagram already sees itself as the “best place to connect with your friends and interests all in one place.” It’s become quite apparent that it also sees shopping is a big part of its platform and its community of users – and one that is constantly growing. With over 90 million accounts now tapping to reveal tags in shopping posts each month, it’s obvious that Instagram is becoming big on shopping.
To continue this trend, Instagram announced two updates this week, that make it easier to shop on its platform, “whether you stumble upon something you love or are simply in the mood to browse your favourite brands.”
Expanding Shopping in Stories
Instagram started to test Shopping in Stories earlier this year in June and is now rolling the feature out globally. The feature is now available to businesses across 46 countries.
With 400 million accounts on Stories every day and 1/3 of the most-viewed Stories coming from businesses, there is a clear business case for Instagram to continue to make Stories an excellent shopping medium.
Introducing Shopping in Explore
In addition to the expansion of Shopping in Stories, Instagram is also announcing a personalised Shopping channel in Explore, based on the topic channels feature Instagram launched in the summer. The Shopping channel will be dedicated to Shopping posts from brands you follow and brands you may like.
The Shopping channel in Explore will start to roll out this week “and will expand globally over the coming weeks.”
With the two updates, Instagram is making shopping more entertaining, through encouraging users to get inspired and connect with the brands they love and says it will “continue to explore the right features and experiences to make Instagram the best place to shop.”
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