Instagram’s user interface is being updated, including modest changes to the app layout and the positioning of function buttons on-screen.
As seen in this picture, the navigation bar at the bottom of the app will now contain a shortcut for producing content in the centre, rather than the existing Reels shortcut. The Reels button will be moved to the right, and the Shop tab that is now in that location will be removed.
Which is another kind of admission that shopping isn’t taking off as well as Instagram had intended – though Instagram emphasises that its shopping features would still be supported after the upgrade.
According to IG:
“You will continue to be able to set up and manage your store on Instagram as we continue to invest in shopping experiences that deliver the highest value for people and businesses across feeds, stories, reels, advertisements, and more.”
Many anticipated the increased excitement for purchasing online to continue in the aftermath of the COVID lockdowns, which encouraged the adoption of online shopping, with most social applications trying to scale up their in-stream shopping efforts to correspond with this trend.
However, after physical shops reopened, purchasing behaviour essentially returned to the norm, with online buying activity slowly growing over time. Just not as quickly as it had been owing to COVID consequences.
Instagram’s parent company, Meta, has admitted that it overestimated its growth potential in this area, which was one of the reasons it was forced to let off 11,000 employees in November. Many of these positions were connected back to Meta’s increased online shopping drive, and with live-stream commerce and other efforts failing to find momentum, Meta has now backed away from this as a significant component in its growth plan (note that Meta has cut its live-stream shopping push on Facebook completely).
Instagram, on the other hand, is leaving the door open, and it’s possible that shopping may become more popular on the platform at some point. However, there is little interest at this time, and this update reflects the existing condition and the emphasis on content production rather than generating a new shift.
