After Facebook, Instagram has begun testing the new Shops feature with select users globally to help set up a single online store for customers.
Tapping on the ‘Shops' tab at the bottom bar in Instagram will take users to existing shopping experience in the app, with a listing of posts that have Shopping Tags added via approved merchants, reports TechCrunch.
Instagram has 'Instagram Shopping', which gives business an immersive storefront for people to explore your best products. With Instagram Shopping, you can share featured products through your organic posts and Stories, or have people discover your products in Search & Explore.
When someone taps a product tag on your post or a product sticker in your story, they'll be taken to a product description page where they will see:
- An image of the product from your post
- A description of the product
- How much the product costs
- A link that takes them directly to your website, where they can purchase the product
The Shops tab would replace the current 'Activity' tab for those in the test.
Users would be able to access ‘Activity' via an additional icon in top right.
Facebook in May announced to roll out Shops on its platform.
"Creating a Facebook Shop is free and simple. Businesses can choose the products they want to feature from their catalog and then customise the look and feel of their shop with a cover image and accent colours that showcase their brand," Facebook said in a statement.
Any seller, no matter their size or budget, can bring their business online and connect with customers wherever and whenever it's convenient for them.
The company said that in Facebook Shops, users will be able to message a business through WhatsApp, Messenger or Instagram Direct to ask questions, get support, track deliveries and more.
In the future, they will be able to view a business' shop and make purchases right within a chat in WhatsApp, Messenger or Instagram Direct.