Facebook-owned Instagram will reportedly be scaling back its shopping elements as the company re-examines its approach to commerce.
The Information reports that Instagram is planning to scale back its shopping features as it shifts the focus of its e-commerce plans to those that directly increase advertising on the platform. The move shows that Facebook (now known as Meta) is moving away from long-term projects as it focuses on building its short-form video features.
Mark Zuckerberg surrounded by guards ( Chip Somodevilla /Getty)
In an internal memo to employees on Tuesday, Instagram stated that its existing Shopping page will eventually disappear, “given shifts in company priorities.” The company plans to roll out a simpler and less personalized version of the shopping page, referred to internally as “Tab Lite” and will launch a public test starting Wednesday on the changes to its app designed to switch users to the “Tab Lite” version of the shopping page.
The move reflects “a new northstar and goals for the commerce organization that are more directly tied to advertising revenue for Meta,” the memo stated.
When Instagram first launched its shopping tab, analysts expected that the success it initially saw would be sustained. But while the features were popular during the coronavirus pandemic when online shopping skyrocketed, as retail stores re-opened e-commerce trends returned to the same level they were pre-pandemic.
Even apps such as TikTok, which has seen great success with its shopping features overseas, abandoned plans to roll out an e-commerce feature in the U.S. following a major test across the UK which it determined was a failure.
The UK launch was reportedly handled so poorly that half of the staff working on the project walked out, and the executive in charge of the feature was replaced after deciding that he “didn’t believe” in UK employment law.
Livestreamed e-commerce has been popular in China and other Asian countries, with brands showing a QVC-style product video alongside a clickable shopping basket. ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, enjoyed rapid growth of its shopping feature on the Chinese version of TikTok, Douyin. The company reportedly sold 10 billion products using the feature.
Read more at the Information here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.