• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, October 1, 2019

Continuing its foray into ecommerce, Instagram is now inviting users to set “reminders” about upcoming product launches.

“We wanted to make it easier for people to discover and follow upcoming product launches from brands and creators they love,” Instagram’s business team stated on Monday.

With product launch stickers in Instagram Stories -- and product launch tags -- users will be able to set reminders for launch dates, as well as preview product details. Then buy those they want as soon as they’re available -- all without leaving Instagram’s platform.

At launch, brands participating in the “closed checkout” beta include Adidas, H&M, Levi’s, Michael Kors, Net-a-Porter and Warby Parker.

Exploring opportunities beyond advertising, Instagram officially morphed into an ecommerce platform earlier this year. As such, it has become possible for users to complete purchases within Facebook’s popular platform.

Prior to the change, plenty of Instagram users could already use the platform to shop.

As of March, more than 130 million monthly users were tapping to reveal product tags in shopping posts, according to internal figures. That was from the 90 million monthly taps that Instagram recorded last September.

When users tap to view a product from a brand’s shopping post, they should now see a “Checkout on Instagram” button on the product page. They can then tap the button to select from various options, such as size or color, and then proceed to payment.

The new system requires users enter their name, email, billing information and shipping address the first time they check out.

Shoppers can also expect to receive notifications about shipment and delivery directly within Instagram’s platform.