Public Relations & Social Marketing Insight

Instagram has rolled out a game-changer for businesses: brands can now sell products directly from the app.

The photo-sharing app introduced a new ‘tap to view’ button on November 1, 2016. The button gives shoppers the opportunity to learn more about an item in an image, as well as the option to go directly to the retailer’s website to purchase the item.

Vishal Shah, head of product management for monetization at Instagram, explained the inspiration to Recode: “We’ve seen pretty good progress in mobile on making purchases easier. But these two things—discovery and the actual purchase—are just not well-connected like happens in physical stores.”

The network’s announcement post explained: “Most mobile shopping experiences today take people from the shop window right to check out—without giving consumers the opportunity to consider a product and get more information.”...