Payments on Instagram allows buyers and sellers to chat in real time, request or collect payments, and track orders directly from the Instagram chat. Instagram announced the new Payments in Chat feature today via Meta’s Newsroom. It will allow consumers to purchase direct messages from qualified small businesses on social media.
This addition allows buyers and sellers to chat in real time, request or collect payments, and track orders directly from Instagram chat.
Meta says in the announcement:
“We want to help people start conversations with businesses they care about and help them find and buy products they love in a simple, seamless experience, right from the chat topic.”
According to Meta, one billion users chat with businesses weekly on the company’s social media platforms. This includes interacting with brands, reviewing products, requesting support and interacting with stories.New Functionality Streamlines the buying process
Chat Pay uses Meta Pay to simplify the app’s social media shopping experience. Instead of the traditional payment process of clicking between pages and websites, Meta Pay allows customers to checkout with just a few clicks. It also provides secure processing and purchase protection.
Users can initiate a conversation with merchants through a direct message, ask questions about products, and then complete purchases in the same thread.
Seamless shopping can mean more sales for small businesses
By simplifying the transaction process, businesses using Instagram as a sales platform could see an increase in sales. Businesses can leverage this new functionality with Meta Shops, which makes it easy to create a seamless online store for Facebook and Instagram.It will also be available to businesses that don’t currently use Shops, allowing them to handle chat, provide support, and complete purchases without leaving the Instagram platform.
However, as with all online shopping, there is always the potential for bad actors, including hackers and fraudulent stores looking to mislead and steal money from careless customers.
