Instagram Has A New Shopping Feature, So Get Ready To Go Broke

Instagram definitely has its own personality as a social media platform, doesn't it? While Facebook and Twitter could be considered more information-based, there's something decidedly visual about Instagram. Something sort of covetous and luxurious because you're really just scrolling through pictures of things you want... sort of like shopping. And sometimes you see things you would like to buy and then you have to stop everything to buy them, it's all rather tedious. Or it was until now, that is, because Instagram's new shopping feature means you'll be able to shop while on the platform. So get ready to just be on Instagram until you either fall asleep or run out of money, I guess.

Instagram rolled out a new feature on Tuesday called Instagram Checkout, which will allow users the chance to shop through the app. Before Instagram Checkout, Instagram users would have to leave the platform to purchase anything from a brand's post (which is essentially everything because Instagram ads feel like they're basically wiretapped directly to your brain stem). That will hopefully be a thing of the past soon. As of Tuesday, 20 brands have signed up for Instagram Checkout during the initial closed beta trial, as per Fast Company, meaning it will be so much easier to simply click on what you want and continue scrolling.

I know, this could be dangerous for the wallet.

So here's how it works; you see something you like. You click on the product tag for one of the 20 brands now available, which will take you to a product information page. You click "purchase," then enter all of your billing and shipping information. Happily you'll only have to do that once because Instagram will save your info for you. Users will be able to choose between paying with credit card or PayPal when shopping, although they will be able to add a PIN for extra security, as per BuzzFeed News.

While there might only be 20 brands right now, the good news is that they represent the full gamut of high-end and less expensive names. You can shop at H&M, Balmain, Adidas, Oscar de la Renta, Dior, Burberry, Nike, Prada, and Revolve, as per an Instagram blog. Ryan Pabelona, Revolve's director of performance marketing, explained how this new system would make shopping easier for users in an Instagram blog post:

At our core, Revolve aspires to create a seamless, elevated shopping experience for our customer. With Instagram’s new checkout interface, we’re able to better serve our millennially minded audience by providing a new, fast, and easy purchase method on a platform where they are already engaging with our content and discovering our products.

Instagram noted in a blog post that these brands (which naturally include KKW and Kylie Cosmetics, the beauty brands created by Instagram influencers Kim Kardashian West and Kylie Jenner) will begin to use Instagram Checkout over the next few weeks. I think it's safe to say more will follow in short order, because this is going to make shopping almost too easy.

But maybe it will make shopping feel like fun again, who knows?