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| Instagram just made it easier to buy anything you see — which has some obvious problems (but also benefits). |
See, want, have — that's the dream for retailers, and we've been falling into the One-Click hole of Amazon for years. Now, that feature has come to tons of your favorite brands, not to mention restaurants and salons, thanks to Instagram.
Instagram has added so-called Action Buttons to posts by businesses that let you buy what you see with a single tap (kind of — we’ll get to that). Starting today, you can reserve a table at a restaurant, buy a movie ticket, start a food order or book a class at a cool new gym as soon as you scroll across something you love on a business's Instagram account.
The magic happens by integrating 19 different reservation and purchasing programs into the site, which pops up a browser window and built-in widget to complete your purchase. If you have an account through one of these services, you’re on your way to impulse buying bliss (if not, you’ll have to create one): Acuity, Atom Tickets, Booksy, ChowNow, Eatstreet, Eventbrite, Fandango, GrubHub, MyTime, OpenTable, Reserve, Restorando, Resy, SevenRooms, StyleSeat, Tock and Yelp Reservations.
Instagram will also add support for Appointy, Genbook, LaFourchette, Mindbody, Schedulicity, SetMore, Shedul and Vagaro soon.
Your wallet may be feeling the pain, but there’s a way this new system could be good for you. Rick Stollmeyer, CEO and co-founder of the wellness services marketplace Mindbody, is excited about making living a healthier life easier by bridging the gap between feeling like your should do something to get healthier and actually doing something.
“Images have the power to inspire and motivate. With the new integration, Instagram is helping people link that motivation directly to action,” he says. “[T]hat means people now have the opportunity to take immediate action toward a healthier lifestyle the moment an image inspires them to do so.”
