Instagram's new feature to make shopping possible within the app

Instagram might soon enable purchases from within the application. Thier parent company, Facebook is consistently incorporating payment and advertising methods in their products to build an ideal platform to reach consumers; Instagram has taken the next step in this direction.

According to a report from TechCrunch, Instagram has added a native payments feature within its application.

Using this feature, an Instagram subscriber can pay for various services/products from within the application. For now, the feature is only available to select users in US and UK and only a few partners can access it.

Currently, the payment method is available for small services like reserving tables at restaurants.

To access the e-commerce options within the application, the user will have to submit their bank details. Instagram has introduced a 4-digit pin authentication step for added protection.

It is still uncertain if Instagram wants to take a cut from the brand selling on their platform or will continue to extract revenue in the form of advertisements. In both cases, the social-network will establish itself as a viable platform to pursue serious business.

Earlier, Instagram had released an update which allowed sellers to post products on random feeds. The buyer, however, was taken to a different site altogether.  The introduction of this feature will let the buyer complete the payment within Instagram.

Instagram is a great medium to exhibit innovative and creative products that usually reserve a niche crowd in the real world market.

The brand has grown up to become the first choice for new-age entrepreneurs. The application declared 800 million monthly users back in September 2017, out of which 59 million were from India.

Instagram is expected to reach 1 billion monthly active users this year. With the introduction of e-commerce on the platform, many new and even mainstream brands are expected to make use of Instagram on a larger scale.

Advertisements on WhatsApp

Facebook's other properties, like WhatsApp, have also enabled peer to peer transactions. WhatsApp's co-founder Jan Koum quit his position after what seemed to be an ideological conflict between the parent company Facebook and WhatsApp.

With WhatsApp losing its advocate for bloat-free and advertisement-free user experience, the company is expected to introduce advertisements on the platform. The app boasts around 2 billion active users across the globe. Since Facebook acquired WhatsApp for a whopping $19 billion in 2014, it was unclear how the company planned to recover the massive investment.

Facebook vice president of messaging products, David Marcus told CNBC on Tuesday that the company was more open to advertisements with WhatsApp.

Facebook is approaching all its major properties with similar features and the payment options should not be any different.

Once the new update is available to major re-sellers, buyers will be prone to impulsive purchases. The buyer will be able to complete the process in a matter of two simple steps.