Prepare your credit cards!

It’s finally happening! Instagram has taken a big step that could propel it to become a one-stop shop for everything e-commerce related. When it comes to e-commerce, Instagram has long positioned itself to become brands and merchant’s favorite social media site. Instagram is already a new haven for brands. With more than 25 million active businesses and 2 million active advertisers on the platform.

The incorporation of product links and shop tags on has helped many brands to capture customer’s interest in a unique way. Creating an avenue to enable customers to waltz down the aisle of a brand’s online store and drop some shiny dollar note.

With over 130 million clicks each month on product links and shopping tags by brands who have adopted this strategy; it’s only expected that Instagram will gradually unravel the full evolution of its passion for eCommerce consistently.

Checkout will now be a breeze!

The new in-app checkout feature is an evident confirmation of Instagram’s unalloyed passion for e-commerce. With the introduction of in-app checkout feature, users can conveniently buy, track, and manage their purchases on-the-go without having to leave Instagram.

We all know the drudgework of checking out online, most online stores sure know how to make online shopping experience awesomely terrific and tiring for their clientele.

Have you ever taken the time to browse through your favorite e-commerce store only to realize you’re being forced to take yet another unnecessary cumbersome step before you can pay for what you’ve selected? Okay, now what about having to download a bunch of different retailer’s app on your mobile phone? I don’t know about you, but I’m sure you’re tired of creating all these accounts on all these various eCommerce stores.

For all those passionate about online shopping

If you’re a passionate online shopper, you’ll understand that kind of stress that comes with scrolling through Instagram to find something that you want to purchase. Only to be forced to exit Instagram to place an order on the same product through a retailer’s website. Thankfully, this exact problem is what Instagram tends to solve with their new in-app checkout feature.

With regards to making a purchase, you don’t need to bother anymore about the constant need to input your credit card details and shipping address every time you shop online. More importantly, the ‘Olympic’ high jump from one app to another will be a thing of the past! For your convenience, Instagram will process and store all your payment details after the first purchase you made with the in-app checkout feature. This means that you’re only required to type your credit/debit card details and shipping address once. You’ll also get notification about the shipping and delivery of your order right inside the Instagram app; now, isn’t that great?

Supported Brands at Launch

As seen on the Instagram blog, the new Instagram checkout feature which is currently in its beta phase is available to US users only, and it works on just 23 pre-selected partner retailers and brands which include: Adidas, Anastasia Beverly Hills, Balmain, Burberry, ColourPop, Dior, H&M, Huda Beauty, KKW Kylie Cosmetics, MAC Cosmetics, Michael Kors, NARS, Nike, NYX Cosmetics, Oscar de la Renta, Ouai Hair, Outdoor Voices, Prada, Revolve, Uniqlo, Warby Parker, and Zara.

For all we know, the addition of more brands to the first list over the coming weeks is definite. What we don’t know yet is when this checkout feature will be rolled out for users worldwide.

How does security play a role in this?

Instagram will only provide brands the essential information they’ll need to ship users order. Instagram won’t necessarily release data on user’s complete payment info/purchasing data. In essence, brands only get to see the user’s contact info and shipping address. Users can opt-in to share their email address with brands for marketing purpose as well.

Instagram is still pushing its e-commerce product plans for online shopping. Believe it or not, this new checkout feature is not going to be the last thing we’ll hear about Instagram this year. It’s believed that the company might be building a standalone app for shopping, as reported by The Verge sometime last year.