Snapchat Now Has An In-App Store

Snapchat is a social media platform aimed at a younger audience, who are then able to communicate mostly through filtered photos. As such, it’s rather odd to imagine the platform being turned into an e-commerce space, and yet this is exactly what happened. Snap Inc., the company behind Snapchat recently launched an in-app store.

Among the available items for purchase include a plushy of the Dancing Hot Dog, which costs $20 and a T-Shirt of the Dog Lens, which costs $30. As TechCrunch notes, the store is not yet intended to make Snap money. However, if the platform actually takes off and proves to be a hit to its users, it could become a viable source of revenue for the company.

Officially, the company says that this is just something to engage the community with since it is a limited time offer. Loyal Snapchat users can go to the store, buy their stuff, and drive brand loyalty up. If it just so happens that the items also provide Snapchat with a good source of free advertising, it would make a decent bonus.

This isn’t the first time that Snap has dabbled in the e-commerce pond, either. The company has sold several items in the past, including Ghostface Chillah backpack and Dancing Hot Dog Halloween costume. These were previously sold through Amazon.

There was also Spectacles, Snap’s camera-equipped sunglasses. While the item did have a decent start, the company ended up making too many of the wearable, Mashable reports.

At this point, Snap isn’t really doing too well in terms of hitting its revenue targets. The company has not been seeing decent user growth and its share price has been suffering, as a result. If a new revenue stream can’t be found soon, the social media service risks going under. Then again, Twitter has been facing the same problems and it’s still around.