Instagram reported to be working on standalone shopping app
Instagram is working on the launch of a standalone shopping app allowing users to buy directly from the brands and retailers they follow.
The move has not yet been confirmed, but it would be a natural follow-on on from the platform's decision last March to allow brands to tag their posts with shoppable tags taking the user direct to the product's page on the brand's e-commerce site. It has since extended the service to Stories.
Website The Verge claims to have spoken to Instagram insiders and says the app may be called IG Shopping. It reports that the company feels it is well positioned to take on online e-commerce platforms like Shopify by introducing paid e-commerce tools.
Instagram has around 25m business users and four in five of its overall users follow at least one business offering an attractive, ready-made audience.
Even if it is true the app is in development, there is no guarantee it will come to market but Instagram is not averse to launching standalone apps having recently launched IGTV, a YouTube competitor that puts vertically shot videos into their own app, and it is trialling Direct, a new instant messaging app.
