Instagram Steps Up its Mobile Payments, Shopping Options

Instagram’s pushes into mobile commerce have been a bit tentative, but still moving fairly rapidly. Originally, shopping on Instagram was a matter relegated to the Feed section, but just recently, Instagram bumped it up a notch by bringing shopping to Instagram Stories as well.

How it’s poised to work, reports note, is that, when users are on Instagram Stories, there will be a sticker with a shopping bag icon on it. From there, users need only tap the sticker to reveal further details about the product presented.

Instagram’s support for such a measure was a study that showed Instagram users were known to get in on Instagram Stories to keep up with familiar brands, as well as get access to inside information about upcoming products and the like.

An Instagram release noted “From Adidas and Aritzia to Louis Vuitton, people have been able to shop from their favorite brands around the world, and now you can shop these businesses in Instagram Stories. Shoppers on Instagram are savvy. They visit Instagram looking for the latest trends and styles. With 300M using Instagram Stories everyday, people are increasingly finding new products from brands they love.”

Thus, Instagram has made itself just a little more relevant to its end users by not only giving them that access, but the ability to follow up on that inside information. Such a move also improves value for those who set up sponsorship on the site; it allows them to reach potential customers with that inside information, which certainly has value for all concerned. Any time a business can shorten the gap between coming in contact with a product and making it available for purchase, it improves the likelihood of actually making the sale.

It’s one of the biggest problems advertisers face, and one that gave rise to the concept of the “impulse buy”. The closer advertisers can shrink the gap, the closer everything is to an impulse buy, and that helps keep sales up and running. This latest move from Instagram should help shorten that gap and bolster some sales, a move which advertisers will no doubt welcome, and be willing to pay for accordingly.