Instagram will ditch the Shop tab in February

It looks like Instagram will try to focus on creating and sharing content rather than trying to be an online store. The popular social network announced that there will be some changes in the app’s navigation “to make it easier for people to share and connect with their friends and interests.”

Starting in February, we are changing Instagram’s navigation to make it easier for people to share and connect with their friends and interests. As part of this change, the Instagram Shop tab will be removed. You will still be able to set up and run your shop on Instagram as we continue to invest in shopping experiences that provide the most value for people and businesses across feed, stories, reels, ads and more,” reads part of the post.

The Shop tab was first introduced back in 2020 and wasn’t the most popular change, according to the majority of Instagram users. In August 2021, the company even started putting ads in the Shop tab as part of a plan to slowly improve its ways to make money.

With the latest decision to remove the Shop tab from the navigation bar, Instagram quietly admits that its monetization efforts and the general path on which the app was going weren’t the most popular and probably effective solutions.

Even though the Shop tab will be removed from the navigation bar, people will still be able to buy things on Instagram, mainly via tagged products and by using the shop button directly on the Instagram profile page of a certain business.

Nevertheless, Instagram might be trying to return to its glory days, and this change is a small but important step in the right direction. What do you think about it? Will you miss the Shop tab?