Was the Instagram Shopping Tab a complete failure?
Instagram is replacing the Shop tab with the Create button in its main navigation. Instagram revealed that it will be deleting the Shop button from the main navigation of its mobile application in a post on its Help Center.
The Shop option has been a part of the app’s primary navigation since it was initially introduced in November 2020, therefore many people are surprised by this change.
According to The Information, Instagram, which is owned by Meta, intends to dramatically reduce its e-commerce shopping facilities and return its attention to the aspects that generate advertising money. The decision went on to say that the current Shopping page will soon be completely phased away, and it was communicated to staff via an internal memo.
Despite this, Instagram will still offer the ability to shop; it will just receive less attention as the company prepares to test a less complex, more generic version.
The company informed its workforce that these modifications are a part of “a new Northstar and goals for the commerce organization that is more directly tied to advertising revenue for Meta.”
According to the company, the Create button will be placed in the app’s central menu in February and take Reels’ place. Reels are not being removed from the main navigation, simply moved to the right. Instagram noted, “Starting in February, we are changing Instagram’s navigation to make it easier for people to share and connect with their friends and interests.
The navigation bar at the bottom of the app will now have the Create shortcut for creating content in the center and Reels to the right.”
Over the past few years, Instagram has significantly invested in enhancing its internal e-commerce functionality in addition to introducing the shop option to the main menu. In the past year alone, it has allowed users to shop inside of chats and tag brands in images that connect to a store page, but according to The Verge, the company was experimenting with a main feed without a shop tab as early as last September.
Instagram undoubtedly believed that there was a lot of revenue to be made in e-commerce at one point and for a while, but recently, as its holding company struggles with enormous losses brought on by bad business decisions, including the massive investment into the Metaverse, that has so far completely failed, priorities have changed.
While Instagram has stated that the navigation would change in February, it has not given a specific date for the transition. The announcement comes just after the company unveiled its new Notes tool, a feature reminiscent of MySpace that enables users to post a status with friends in order to spark conversation.
‘Shops,’ an in-app shopping tool that encouraged users to shop as they browsed, was introduced by Meta-owned Instagram in the midst of the pandemic in 2020.
I am a law graduate from NLU Lucknow. I have a flair for creative writing and hence in my free time work as a freelance content writer.