It is a clear fact that for most of people around the world, shopping is an entertaining habit to get inspired and connect with new and interesting brands, that’s why social media platforms are working on supporting this habit globally.

Instagram is one of those social apps, which has recognized the importance of providing entertaining and effective Shopping Tools and options for both Advertisers and ordinary Instagrammers worldwide. Hence, a few hours ago, Instagram announced on its official blog that they are rolling out two new updates that make it easier to shop on the Instagram platform.

This step is not Instagram’s starting point in their ongoing work to enhance Instagrammers’ shopping experience, but it is considered to be a complementary step after they found that more than 90 million accounts now tap to reveal tags in shopping posts on Instagram every month. As explained by Instagram, this new update includes:

Expanding Shopping in Stories

 Earlier last June, Instagram announced the test of Shopping in Stories, which enables advertisers, businesses, and brands to add a sticker with a shopping bag icon to their product image in their Instagram Stories, to let their customers see more details about their products, in addition to enabling Instagrammers to shop at their favorite brands in Instagram Stories. Now, Instagram is launching it globally and expanding it to businesses, brands, and retailers in 46 countries. this means that Instagrammers now have the ability to learn more about products by tapping the selected product when they are watching behind-the-scenes Stories from their favorite brands and see something they love.

As explained by Instagram:

“More than 400 million accounts come to Stories every day to feel closer to their favorite accounts. And with one-third of the most-viewed stories coming from businesses, we’re excited to see how Shopping in Stories enable brands to tell an even deeper story about what’s behind their products.”

Introducing Shopping in Explore

 Instagram’s second update is the launch of a new Shopping channel in Explore, which will be personalized to every user. In June, Instagram rolled out “Topic channels”, that help Instagrammers to browse across their interests and go deeper in any area they love in Explore, but today, according to the new update, users will be able to see a channel dedicated to Shopping posts from the brands they follow and brands they might like.
Instagram also points out that, this Shopping channel in Explore will start working today and will expand globally over the upcoming weeks.