Instagram had announced a new option within the Shop tab in
the app and launched a test of the feature few weeks back, which was
successful. The company is now rolling out the option to all merchants on its
app.
The new Shop option is allowing businesses to promote their
product listings on the Shop tab by advertising them. The paid posts will be labelled
as “sponsored.”
According to Instagram, this new addition of ads is meant to “make it easier for people to discover and shop from brands when they’re already in the mood to browse.”
The ads will be displayed in the form of tiles on the Instagram Shop tab home page. If you tap on a sponsored product, you will be directed to a page where the product’s details will be mentioned, so you can discover more about the product. Moreover, additional products from the same brand will be displayed in the 'More from this Shop’ section.
Other options associated with ads in the Shop tab include
the ability to save sponsored product listings to a wishlist, and share them
with others from the details page.
This new feature is part of Instagram’s efforts to promote
eCommerce, to encourage users to opt for an easy way to shop, by simply
discovering items from images within the app. The Shop tab was a major eCommerce
element that Instagram introduced in its app back in July.
Instagram seems to be paying attention its users’ needs, so
it can improve the Shop tab over time and increase its potential and
engagement. Considering that 80% of Instagram users follow at least one brand
on the platform, the app’s eCommerce tools can be quite advantageous to the
social company.
