Instagram has announced that it is testing a new direct-to-app payment option called Checkout, which will make it easier for users to buy their favorite products. According to the companies involved in the beta testing period, including Zara, Adidas, Burberry, Balmain, H&M, Huda Beauty, Prada and Kylie Cosmetics, Instagram is targeting users with an interest in beauty and fashion.

Now, 130 million people who use Instagram’s product tags will be able to purchase products without leaving the app, thanks to stored payment information. “Checkout with Instagram” was launched a few days ago in the U.S. with more than 20 top brands that will no longer have to direct users to their websites to make a purchase.

New payment option

Instagram’s main idea is to introduce a sales fee to enable funding for this idea and the products that help make the new service work, as well as reimbursement of transaction costs. For the time being, Instagram has remained reserved about the amount that will be charged. The sales fee will be in the testing phase with enterprises during the closed beta. The fee will definitely not change the price of the product for customers, according to Instagram.

This platform could gain even more importance in terms of advertising, as Checkout could convince brands that this social network brings a better return on investment, because it has fewer steps before making a purchase. For now, only organic posts will have a checkout button, while ads are not included in this content for now. But think about it! Checkout ads could be a goldmine for Instagram, just as Facebook’s News Feed ad business looks shaky, with Zuckerberg announcing that commerce is a major development point in 2019.

Checkout tags will appear on posts in the Feed, Stories, and Explore of brand content in a closed beta, which Instagram plans to open to even more businesses soon. When users tap on a post to view product tags and open it, they will be shown a “Checkout with Instagram” button instead of the old “View on Website” button.

When users make a purchase through Instagram, they will be able to track the status of the product from a new “Orders” section of their profile, which displays the status of the order, with options to cancel, initiate a return or contact the retailer. You will also receive a notification from Instagram when the order is placed

Users can pay via PayPal, Visa, Mastercard, American Express, or Discover. Instagram plans to allow merchants to integrate their Shopify, BigCommerce, ChannelAdvisor, CommerceHub , and other tools with the Checkout feature. Meanwhile, Instagram has confirmed that interacting with Checkout will be used as a ranking signal for the content you’ll be shown. Payments are processed through PayPal – an area of business in which Facebook has no intention of interfering, and PayPal’s fees are likely to be covered by Instagram’s sales fee.

Shopping via Instagram

There’s still no indication of the appearance of Instagram’s long-awaited standalone shopping app. Instead, six months ago, he launched a dedicated Explore shopping channel and tags for Stories. Recently, we spotted Instagram’s prototype Pinterest-style content, which will allow users to publicly display their private collections of saved posts. This would be a great way for influencers to recommend products that are “equipped” with Checkout. Facebook has spent five years experimenting with different shopping options, but now it seems to have put things in the right place.

Instagram has been working hard to make it harder for outgoing links from the platform itself, so that users constantly consume content from Instagram. Now with more than 1 billion users, Instagram has kept people’s attention within the platform, and is finally ready to sell the rights to the sale through the app itself.