Instagram launches its own payments within the social network

Instagram users will be able to make purchases without leaving their account thanks to a new built-in payments feature. The company hopes that this feature will encourage users to make more impulse purchases.

The monthly audience of Instagram is about 1 billion active users, in addition, more than 2 million advertisers promote their products on the application. Unsurprisingly, the platform is introducing a native payments feature that will allow brands to sell products and services directly while browsing catalogs. 

Currently, in-app payment is only available to select Instagram users and is reportedly in early testing ahead of an upcoming rollout.

The new feature, first spotted by TechCrunch, expands Instagram's e-commerce capabilities by allowing users to make purchases directly within the app. Until now, businesses could advertise their products on Instagram, but when users went to checkout, they were redirected to a browser to enter their payment details and complete the transaction through the merchant's website.

Instagram will now have a payment system that allows users to add a credit or debit card to their profile and avoid the lengthy process of filling out payment details for a purchase. 

Instagram has confirmed that the subscription payment system is currently available to a limited number of advertising partners. For now, this includes some restaurants and salons, but it's not hard to imagine that this one-click purchasing system will be attractive to many Instagram advertisers.

The payment option appears in the Settings section within the app, with the ability to add debit or credit card information and track previous payments.

The new payment options are only available to select users in the United States for now.