Instagram is expanding its shopping capabilities by giving more businesses access to Shopping in Stories and testing a new Shopping Channel in Explore.
Shopping in Stories
Shopping in Stories was first introduced this past June as a test feature that a limited number of businesses had access to.
Now, any business approved for shopping on Instagram has access to Shopping in Stories.
With access to this feature, businesses can add product stickers to stories, which works just like adding any other type of sticker.
Users viewing the story can tap on the sticker to open a product page. From there they can make a purchase.
The customer response to shopping in Instagram stories has been rapidly growing, the company says:
“Instagram Stories has seen rapid growth in adoption among consumers, with more than 400 million accounts using the feature daily. People love stories for its immersive, full-screen format, and one-third of the most-viewed stories are from businesses.”
Businesses can get approved for shopping on Instagram by following these steps.
‘Shopping’ Channel in Explore
Instagram is testing a new topic channel for shopping in Explore which personalizes brands and products to users’ tastes.
The channel will display shopping posts from a variety of businesses, which may expose them to new businesses that they don’t already follow.
It sounds like any businesses approved for shopping on Instagram, that also creates shopping posts, will be eligible to have their content surfaced in the new shopping channel.
The shopping channel in Explore is currently testing and will roll out globally over the coming weeks.
