Instagram is working on a new standalone app dedicated to online shopping. It will be the company’s most significant push into e-commerce so far.
According to various sources, Instagram is currently working on a new standalone app dedicated to shopping. The app will let users browse through collections of product photos from merchants, and allow them to purchase goods directly within the app.
Instagram already counts over 25 million businesses on its platform, with 2 million of them being active advertisers. So the company certainly has the potential to become a leading e-commerce force. Instagram already has a shopping feature that it launched in November 2016. It allows for businesses to tag posts with individual products and for users to shop directly from the platform.
It is not the first time Instagram releases a standalone app. The company has launched an app dedicated to Direct messaging and more recently launched IGTV, a new long-form video content app.
Instagram declined to comment on the news, and there is no confirmation of a potential release date. The app is still under development, and the project could still be cancelled. However, should the app launch, it will be, by far, Instagram’s (and Facebook’s) most significant push into e-commerce so far.
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