Tim Peterson says, “Ever seen a brand post a photo of a shirt on Instagram and thought, “I want that. How can I get it?” But then realized in order to get it, you need to see if the brand put the shirt’s name in the caption, then switch out of Instagram to your phone’s browser, search for the retailer’s site, then search on the site for the product’s name to get to a page where you can buy it. It’s a hassle. But not for long.

Next week, Instagram will start testing a way for you to be able to see a product in a retailer’s photo and buy it from the brand’s site without leaving Instagram’s app. The test will be limited to 20 retailers — including JackThreads, Kate Spade, Macy’s and Warby Parker — and only people in the US who use Instagram’s iOS app will be able to try it out.

Instagram’s shopping feature is pretty basic and not entirely new to Instagram. The feature doesn’t work for videos, and people have been able to buy products through ads on Instagram for over a year. The new, organic-only shopping feature — which Instagram plans to eventually apply to ads — boils down to a sleek upgrade of the old ad-only version.

At first when you see a shopping-enabled photo, it’ll look like a normal photo, except the bottom-left of the image will have a “Tap to View Products” callout. Tap that, and you’ll see tags laid over up to five products in the photo with their names and prices. Tap one of those tags, and you’ll see a zoomed-in view of that product with its description where the caption would normally be and a link to “Shop Now” where the likes count would normally be. Tap the “Shop Now” button, and Instagram’s in-app browser will open to the product’s page on the retailer’s site”.

Instagram tests shopping outside of ads with 20 retailers in the US

Marketing Land

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