What started as a simple photo sharing platform has quickly grown into a multi-faceted social network. Instagram, is now one of the world’s leading social media platforms and is used by millions for any number of things, other than just sharing photos today.
While the app still serves as a photo sharing platform, it also offers Business profile users to sell their products and services. In light of this, Instagram is now working towards making things easier for both the seller as well as the consumer, by adding shopping links to Instagram Stories.
As announced by Instagram in an official blog post, the company is expanding the reach of shopping from standard posts to Instagram stories as well. “On Instagram Stories, when you see a sticker with a shopping bag icon, tap on it to see more details about that product.” The blog post further goes on to state that a couple of brands such as Adidas, Aritzia and Louis Vuitton will start using the feature right away, with more brands to follow soon.
Users might recall that up until now, Instagram only allowed Business users to just add photos in their Instagram posts, with a link below it to buy it. However, with the same feature being integrated into stories, it will allow the companies to further enhance their reach, considering over 300 million daily active users for Instagram stories.
The ability to add shopping links to one’s Instagram Stories seems like a great move to enhance the growth of Shopping on Instagram. Considering the nature of Instagram Stories, it should allow a seller to easily posts deals of the day on their Instagram stories, that would expire automatically once the deal is over, that is, after 24 hours. Having shopping features inside their app is also one of the many features that give Instagram the edge over its main competitor Snapchat.
