Snapchat unveils in-app shopping channel with Shopify

Dive Brief:

Snapchat rolled out Shop and Cop, a dedicated shopping channel in its mobile app that will feature limited-time deals and exclusive offers through e-commerce shopping platform Shopify, according to a WeRSM story.
The channel, available in Snapchat's Discover section, will be curated by Snapchat, featuring social influencer posts and content, with Shopify's capabilities allowing shoppers to stay in-app to claim deals and complete purchases, rather than being sent to another retailer's app or site.
Shop and Cop launched late last week with deals from fitness apparel brand Gymshark, per Adweek, and on Black Friday will feature more deals from brands such as Kylie Cosmetics and Coco Breezy, among several others.

Dive Insight:

Snapchat has been busy lately looking to work with retailers and brands, and enabling new features for them. Last month, news surfaced that Levi Strauss and Disney were testing a Snapchat augmented reality lens for virtual try-on capabilities. Snapchat also partnered with Amazon on visual search, and last month created more shoppable ad options for product advertisers.

Shop and Cop broadens Snapchat's shopping aspirations at a time when other social networks are doing the same. In particular, reports that Instagram may be developing its own shopping app may have put pressure on Snapchat to do something similar. Shop and Cop is not a new app, but it is a new way of thinking about shopping while remaining within the social app.

Snapchat's move also comes at a time when mobile shopping apps are evolving to include some aspects of deal sites and apps, some components of social apps and networks, and greater degrees of Amazon-like personalization features. ShopRunner just launched District, a new mobile marketplace app that combines all three facets, for example.

Working with Shopify could greatly expand the number of brands Snapchat is able to offer deals from — although the new channel reportedly launched with deals from about 20 brands. It will be interesting to see how quickly Shop and Cop is able to expand, and what it can do to keep shoppers interested after the holiday shopping rush for deals is over.