Exciting news: Instagram just added native payment features for some users, making it possible to make payments for services on Instagram without leaving the app.
The feature isn’t available for all users (yet). According to Techcrunch, Instagram is allowing some UK and US business accounts to test the feature by accepting payments for booking restaurant tables and salon bookings:
For now, only a small group of people can use the functionality, and it’s not known when Instagram will roll out the functionality to a broader group of users.
In the future, Instagram expects to provide direct payments for other products like movie tickets and tickets for events. Even though the company has never spoken about direct e-commerce shopping on the platform, one can imagine combining the current ‘shoppable’-tags and direct payments.
Having the option to buy products directly from Instagram would bring the social networking app into a whole new spectrum of shopping online, something e-commerce players should really be ready for. There’s no excuse for not building a proper Instagram base if you have something to sell.
