Instagram will add shopping features to its TikTok clone

The company is looking for ways to monetize Reels, a short video sharing service introduced in August 2020.

Instagram will start testing the possibility of making purchases directly from Reels, its online video sharing service. The tool was introduced earlier in 2020, and by its purpose and functionality, it is a clone of the most popular Chinese service TikTok. Now the company owned by Facebook will actively experiment with shopping opportunities. By the end of 2020, as the company promises, users will be able to sell and buy goods directly through the app. 

And from October 12, shopping functions will be added to IGTV, a service from Instagram for viewing longer videos. Sellers will add special tags to their videos to select products directly from the video and make a purchase either now on Instagram or by going to the seller’s website. 

Such steps are a logical continuation of Facebook’s efforts to implement shopping functions on Instagram. In the summer of 2020, testing of a separate tab for shopping tools began, and users could already make purchases through posts on the social network, stories, newsfeed, and other social media apps.

Adding shopping options to Reels was expected, as Instagram is actively developing itself as a platform for online shopping. However, this step can be considered relatively rapid, as only two months have passed since the launch of the service. It is expected that the addition of new features will give Reels a significant advantage over its main competitor TikTok and attract other platform stores and brands interested in the development of a new sales channel.