Immediately after winning the 2015 CFDA Media Award, Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom revealed a new feature that will allow its 300 million users to shop and purchase advertisers’ products directly through the image sharing app.
As most will recall, Facebook purchased Instagram in 2012 for $1 billion. The new “Shop Now” feature will utilize Facebook’s technology that permits sponsors to target users based on their interests, age, and gender on their Facebook profiles reports Adweek.
“We have benefitted greatly from being a part of Facebook,” James Quarles, Instagram’s global head of business and brand development, told Adweek. “It would have taken us years to build this tech stack for ourselves. So, we’re fortunate to be able to take select pieces of Facebook’s tech stack.”
Instagram’s advertising guidelines will force new potential advertisers to design and customize ads in way in which they “blend in” as much as possible within users photo feeds and not heavily disrupt the experience.
When Instagram first introduced sponsored images, there was an immediate backlash within the social community from users who didn’t appreciate posts from brands they preferred not to follow.
Although many details are yet to be revealed, the “Shop Now” feature does seem like a step in the logical direction for Instagram given the fashion industry is among the apps most popular influencer. So instead of big brands paying individual influencers to post images of their products, they’ll now be able to pay Instagram instead for a select audience and make sales with a click of a button.
What do you think of the new Shop Now on button? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
