See an item you love on Instagram, but don’t have the cash for it yet? Now you can save products for later, a new feature that rolled out with several changes dedicated to shopping on the social network. Announced on Thursday, November 15, the update also includes a redesigned Shop tab for business pages and the ability to shop from a video.
Along with saving favorite photos and videos, Instagrammers can soon save favorite products using shopping collections. Instagrammers can create a wish list on the network, or perhaps a holiday gift idea list, by using the same save icon that keeps images and videos. While the save option is new for products, those saved items will live with saved photos and videos, all accessible from your profile.
To find the saved products again, users navigate to their profile, tap the menu icon in the upper right, and hit the saved option. Saved items can also be organized into different collections from the same screen.
The second update is only in testing phases but could help boost the shopping experience on Instagram. With the feature, business profiles could gain a redesigned Shop tab. The updated experience allows Instagrammers to see all of a brand’s products in one place, including essential details like the price and the post where that product was originally featured.
Finally, videos will join Feed images and Stories as places to shop on Instagram. When available, the shopping icon will pop up in the bottom left corner of the video. Tapping the icon will bring up a link to the product. Instagram says the feature is available now.
Instagram says the changes are designed to help users discover new brands and products. The changes come shortly after Instagram expanded shoppable Stickers and launch ahead of the holiday shopping season. Recent shopping-focused updates also include a shopping channel inside Instagram’s Explore.
Instagram has been steadily building more options to buy from businesses on the network as more businesses join Instagram. Last year, the network expanded integration with shopping platforms like Shopify and BigCommerce. The photo-focused social network is also rumored to be working on a dedicated shopping app, but the company hasn’t confirmed those early reports.
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