Checkout on Instagram starts rolling out to US users

Instagram users Stateside can now tap product tags on shopping posts in order to buy those items without leaving the app, using stored payment info.

Checkout on Instagram is currently in closed beta for businesses. A number of brands, including Adidas, Burberry and H&M, have begun rolling it out, with more set to follow. Further info here.

With the rise of brands that have used social media promotion almost exclusively to gain traction, Instagram’s new checkout ability and the use of the platform as an online marketplace has been a long time coming, notes Steve Gershik, CMO at product information management specialist, inRiver.

“Eventually – and probably sooner than marketers are ready for – we will have the ability to take this to the next level through adaptive merchandising, which will allow brands to visually show, through ads, how their products will fit into a particular consumer’s lifestyle,” he says.

“With the rise of artificial intelligence, the technology will soon exist for a smartphone to track its user’s eye movements, dwell time and pupil dilation – all things that indicate interest. This science will allow marketers to deliver the right information at the right time, therefore solidifying marketing platforms like Instagram as one stop shops for product information.”