Instagram has launched its Shopping feature, which enables customers to see brand product information on the social media app, across eight new markets following a successful trial in the US.

Introduced in the US in October 2017, the new feature enables retailers and brands to link posts directly to products on their sites, including information such as product description and cost. Brands are able to tag up to five items per post, or 20 products per multi-image post.

Following the trial, the Shopping feature has now been made available to approved businesses in the US, the UK, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Brazil.

In the UK, the new service has been trialled over the past couple of months by a range of brands and retailers including Marks and Spencer and Heidi Klein. “Instagram shopping offers us the opportunity to realise the huge potential of our 760,000 followers,” said Erin Roy, head of media and digital marketing at M&S. “Instagram has always been a great platform through which to showcase our products and engage with customers. Shoppable posts take this to a whole new level.”

With the launch of Shopping globally, Worldpay believes that Instagram is establishing itself as a mobile commerce channel for businesses. Motie Bring, UK general manager of global enterprise e-commerce at Worldpay, commented: “The Instagram faithful have been inspired to buy goods based on what they see on the app since the beginning, and now online merchants can make this process much more convenient.

“They just need to ensure the follow-up purchasing experience on their own websites and apps is optimised for mobile shoppers,” he concluded.

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