Snapchat's Discover section may just be more than a place where users view random media content and messages from famous personalities.
Soon, the company will turn its channels into an e-commerce platform where users will be allowed to shop while they snap.
Joanna Coles, editor-in-chief of Cosmopolitan who is also in Snapchat's board of directors, hinted at the idea that the Discover section will soon feature shopping options in addition to the content that it currently offers.
"Sweet is a channel on Snapchat that Hearst and Snapchat have done together, and the tagline is 'Love something new every day.' But at some point that will morph into an e-commerce platform so you will be able to buy from it," Cole said in an interview with Kara Swisher of Re/code.
Sweet features content that includes a mix of food, lifestyle, fashion, music and art pieces. The brand also has accounts on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest.
Sweet also claims to be the first-ever brand to launch on Snapchat Discover, delivering the best in music, culture and style.
Snapchat is known for successfully launching a number of bloggers' careers and for giving older publications a new lease on life. It has also helped several ads to achieve innovation. With Sweet's entry, it remains to be seen how the ephemeral messaging app will also catapult consumers' awareness of the brand. After all, it did say that Discover is designed for creatives.
"Discover is different because it has been built for creatives," says Snapchat. "All too often, artists are forced to accommodate new technologies in order to distribute their work. This time we built the technology to serve the art: each edition includes full screen photos and videos, awesome long-form layouts and gorgeous advertising."
When asked how Cosmopolitan plans to increase revenue online, Coles said that it will be through e-commerce.
"But I don't think necessarily the tech bit is quite there, quite yet for how we would like to do it," said Coles.
Snapchat also offers Snapcash, a type of money transfer service that is seen by some industry experts as an attempt by the company to gather its users' payment card information. Perhaps in the future, Snapchat will use the information as a way for users to purchase more conveniently if the company begins to offer more commercial items for sale.
