In-App Purchases are Coming to Instagram

Online shopping is about to reach a whole new level of convenient.

Instagram, the ever-so-popular photo-sharing app, just announced that they will be launching a new shopping feature next week, on March 26th. Though the release is only a beta test for select brands like ColourPop Cosmetics, Nike, Burberry, and Dior, it is a step in the direction towards total shop-ability.

As it stands, a monthly 130 million people are clicking through the existing product tag feature called “Instagram Shopping” which takes users to a second-party purchasing page launched in February of last year One can only imagine what that number might climb to if shopping via Instagram becomes a one-click wonder. It doesn’t stop there either, according to the company. Checkout, the  particularly apt name of the new feature, is only one of the many shopping enhancements Instagram hopes to add this year.

And while this technology is geared towards creating a smoother shopping experience for Instagram users, not everyone is feeling positive about the move. Critics from tech publications like Motherboard suggest that the app stopped being about following your friends lives a long time ago; rather it’s all a big advertisement, and have gone as far as to call it the “retail turducken of phone addiction.”

Instagram, however, is standing by its choices. In a statement to Business of Fashion, a spokesperson for the company insists it isn’t about pushing commercialism, it’s about simplicity. “The experience is entirely optional. For people who want to shop, we want to make that as easy and seamless as possible.” I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.