Last year, Instagram unveiled
Shops
as part of Facebook’s larger pivot toward e-commerce. Shops is front-and-almost-center on the app’s bottom navigation bar, even more readily accessible
than the button to upload a new photo. Now, after testing
in the U.S. earlier this month, Instagram will introduce ads on the Instagram Shop tab globally, rolling them out in all countries where the Instagram Shop tab is available.
This marks Instagram’s latest update in evolving its e-commerce platform. It previously implemented
shopping in Reels
to compete with TikTok, organized exclusive product Drops
into their own Shop category and added affiliate features
for creators to earn a commission on sales of sponsored products.
Currently, items on Shops appear in a two-column grid of square tiles. Ads will appear as a tile within this structure, but they’ll be marked “Sponsored” in the bottom-left corner of the image. When the ad is clicked, it will open the Product Details page, which shows more information about the item, additional images and other products from the brand. Users can save a product from an ad to their wish list or send it to a friend — if the ad is inappropriate, they can press and hold its tile to see options to hide or report the ad.
Image Credits: Instagram
Instagram tested Shops ads with U.S. advertisers like Away, Donny Davy, Boo Oh, Clare paint, JNJ Gifts, DEUX and Fenty Beauty. As TechCrunch
previously reported
, these ads will launch with an auction-based model and only appear on mobile, since Shops isn’t available on desktop. A user’s experience with these ads will depend on how they use Instagram and how many people are shopping in the Instagram tab.
Instagram tests ads in its Shop tab
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