Instagram Testing Feature That Makes It Easier To Buy Stuff Tagged In Brands’ Photos

In case you needed more shopping temptation in your daily social media feeds, Instagram is now testing a new feature that helps users buy the products that they see in brands’ photos.

Next week Instagram will be rolling out a test of shoppable photo tags to some iOS users. Instagram’s partner brands — a list of 20 that currently includes Warby Parker, Kate Spade, Macy’s, and Coach, among others — tag items in their photos, which are only visible if you tap the tag button.

“Each post will have a tap to view icon at the bottom left of a photo. When tapped, a tag will appear on various products in the post—showcasing up to five products and their prices,” Instagram explains. “Once a tag is selected a new detailed view of the product will open.”

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This way, shoppers never have to leave Instagram to search for more information on what they’re seeing.

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

“We want to give people tools to make it as easy as possible, but not be in your face,” she adds.

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