Snapchat seemed to start life as an underdog in the app world. A slightly silly photo sharing app in which ephemeral snaps could be dished out among friends, it has grown to become one of the most used social media apps of today, with usage numbers rivaling the likes of Facebook and Instagram. The difference is, however, Snapchat is registered under its own company – Snap Inc – whereas Facebook and Instagram are both owned by social media billionaire, Mark Zuckerberg. Despite many lucrative attempts to snare the snapping app from fellow billionaire Evan Spiegel, Snapchat has remained fiercely independent in the glare of apps which should really, by all accounts, be even bigger.
Recently, it has been noted that Snapchat could be struggling when compared to other social media giants. While most apps rely on advertising deals and sponsorships for funding, Snapchat has always done this to minimal effect. Users are subjected to an occasional five-second advert after watching a Story. It could be that Snap Inc (the company also responsible for other social media ventures Bitmoji) are getting a little desperate in their ploy for brand versatility because they’ve now launched a shopping channel within the Discover section of Snapchat.
Black Friday snapping?
Unsurprisingly landing just in time for Black Friday, Shop and Cop will feature “everything from exclusive drops to unique offers.” The deals will be curated by Snapchat itself and Shopify will handle the actual process of buying. Like the famed time-limit photos Snapchat is built around, the tempting deals will only be around for a limited time so users will have to be quick in order to snap them up.
However, this is not Snap Inc’s only foray into the world of shopping. Recently, it was also announced that they had struck a deal with Amazon, in which users could use the Snap camera to search for products.
Quite whether this new app will take off in the way that Snapchat are hoping remains to be seen, but a shopping app on a snapping app seems a bizarre move, especially since it is just as easy to swiftly close the Snapchat app and open the Amazon app.
