San Francisco, May 14 (IANS): To establish itself as an e-commerce site, Facebook-owned photo-messaging app Instagram has set up @shop, a special platform to facilitate convenient transactions for shoppers as well as merchants.

The content on @shop is inspired by its community of shoppers, says the company. "@shop is a celebration of small businesses and the creators behind them. It is a real-time reflection of our community's interests across top shopping categories like fashion, beauty, home decor and more," Instagram wrote in a blog-post on Monday.

Every product on @shop includes product tags to help users shop by categories as well. "On @shop, you'll find emerging brands like Feel jeans, products like Glossier Play Colorslide, founders like KJ Miller and Amanda Johnson of Mented Cosmetics, and the latest trends," the company said.

The account came into existence on Monday and merely 15 posts later gathered a following of 50.2k people.

In March, Instagram launched a beta version of its in-app shopping feature "Checkout with Instagram" in the US. It allows photo-messaging app's one billion users to buy products tagged in images or videos without leaving the platform.

The feature is still being tested in the US and details of its wider rollout remain undisclosed.