Instagram announced on Nov. 1 that the app is testing technology that will facilitate shopping through the app. Starting next week, about 20 US retail brands—J.Crew, Warby Parker, and JackThreads among them—will be able to integrate product information into their posts with special tags.
Each tag will open up a product view with a detailed description, including the item’s price, and offer a “shop now” button that will lead the shopper to the retailer’s website, as demonstrated in the video below.
In a sense, a retailer’s Instagram with products tagged could be a 21st-century version of a page from an old-school catalogue. (We’re looking at you, J.Crew.) And soon, you might be able to turn down the corners of those pages, so to speak. Instagram doesn’t have its own shopping cart just yet, but it sounds like the ability to save items to buy later isn’t far off:
During this initial phase, the new features will be available to a group of people on iOS devices within the US. As we roll out further, we’ll explore product recommendations, ways products are showcased to shoppers, global expansion and the ability to save content so Instagrammers can take an action later.
Just tag Santa, and leave the rest to Instagram.