TikTok adopts a shopping feature where Instagram plans to drop it

Among the video-sharing platforms, an unseen competition is going on. Some media companies are investing huge sums into their platforms. One such case is with Instagram and TikTok. Both platforms are famous for their short vertical videos. It appears like now the companies are shifting their strategies. Since TikTok is soon going to introduce the option of a shopping feature for brands. On the other hand, Instagram has opted to abandon the shopping experiences with the platform.

As per the report from AdAge, TikTok has introduced an in-app checkout feature for consumers in the US. This feature enables the brands to directly trade their products on the platform. In this perspective, the company has welcomed Pacsun [pop culture product boutique] and KimChi Chic [beauty brand] to present their products on TikTok.

The profiles of the brands will be distinguished from a normal profile with the help of a small bad icon. Using the brand profile, users could search the product catalog with videos, images, descriptions, prices, and other such details. Users will have the access to add different products from different stores to the same cart. The recent advancement is due to the immense popularity of the app among consumers. Since they are utilizing the platform as a search engine.

Besides all this, it is not certain whether TikTok succeeds with its recent plan or not. Since Instagram adopted a similar strategy, but the results were not up to expectations. In 2018, Instagram added the option for a shopping feature whereas the Shop tab was introduced to the app back in 2020. Where in the start of the following year, Meta assured that the app would soon get rid of the Shop tab.

The company Instagram has detailed to the employees the recent shift in the strategy. The platform will now focus more on advertisement business in contrast to e-commerce. Just recently i.e., on Wednesday, the company announced that it is going to shut down the Live Shopping feature.

As of now, it is unclear when TikTok will introduce the shopping feature in other markets. Time will unveil whether TikTok succeeds in the area where Instagram failed or not.