The Instagram Shop tab will soon disappear from the app, according to an internal memo released earlier this week.
The Information reports that Instagram will be scaling back its shopping features as the platform refocuses on generating ad revenue.
Instagram first introduced the Shop element on the Explore page in July 2020, with the dedicated Shop tab following later that same year. The Shop features came out as global ecommerce sales exploded in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.
This latest news, though, along with the recently announced end of Facebook Live Shopping, seems to indicate that Meta hasn’t found as much success as they’d hoped with in-stream commerce.
Instagram hasn’t given up on shopping entirely, though. This change is more of a paring back than a complete 180. “Tab Lite,” a “simpler and less personalized” version of the page, is set to replace the Shop tab.
Tab Lite launched in limited tests this week, with the platform reportedly planning to eliminate the dedicated shopping button entirely by March 2023.