Ever been scrolling through pictures on Instagram and wished that you could buy what you see? Instantly? Well, fear no more, because instant shopping is here.

Next week will see the beginning of testing a feature within the picture-sharing app that lets the user tap an icon on the image, which will then show a link to a detailed view of tagged items that can be bought.

Instabuy

The icon will be labelled ‘Shop Now’ and directs you away from Instagram straight to the brand’s website and presumably the exact page where the specific product can be bought. This will supposedly help the advertisers build on the interest of potential customers, opening up a whole new market of online shoppers.

Picture credit: Instagram for Business | Instagram

It sounds like a dream for marketers, who will have to sign up to use the service and can tag up to five items on each picture that are for sale, but what will the effect be for the honest user just looking for cool stuff?

Just browsing

The fact that there is not a ‘Buy’ button, or some kind of invasive technique looking to grab your credit card details straight away, is a definite plus. The idea is that people who aren’t interested in buying products from pictures will see no real difference.

The shopping icon is small and will only appear in the bottom left of photos where the company advertising has something to sell, and even if you do see it, it’s your choice whether you want to see what items are tagged – they won’t appear unless you press it.

Window shoppers

At the moment the test is only being run by twenty brands in the US, with Abercrombie & Fitch, J. Crew and Macy’s some of the most well-known, and users have to follow them to see the posts.

If you are subscribed to any of these accounts on Instagram, it may well be that you have already tried to buy something from them, and possibly experienced that it was not the easiest transition from seeing something you love to actually finding it and buying it.

Instagram hopes that their new shopping feature will solve this problem and provide benefits to consumers and sellers alike. If you purely use the app for enjoyment, however, look out for brands targeting you in the near future, but know that you can avoid it if you want!