After just two months of business , Snapchat has decided to close its lens store on Friday 8 January to focus on its advertising business . This decision has come as a surprise to many , as Snapchat 's lens store , which allowed people to make in - app purchases for the first time , proved very popular with users . However , Snapchat will continue to run its lens store on the platform with the paid lenses now appearing for free among the other free lenses . As mentioned in yesterday 's note , Snapchat is pushing into digital advertising technology with the creation of an application programming interface ( API ) . This will mean that more call - to - action ads will start to appear on Snapchat , these will lead to app installation pages and product purchase pages . Advertising is a strong revenue earner for Snapchat , with the platform looking to attract their Discovery partners .
After just two months of business, Snapchat has decided to close its lens store on Friday 8 January to focus on its advertising business. This decision has come as a surprise to many, as Snapchat's lens store, which allowed people to make in-app purchases for the first time, proved very popular with users. However, Snapchat will continue to run its lens feature on the platform with the paid lenses now appearing for free among the other free lenses. As mentioned in yesterday's note, Snapchat is pushing into digital advertising technology with the creation of an application programming interface (API). This will mean that more call-to-action ads will start to appear on Snapchat, these will lead to app installation pages and product purchase pages. Advertising is a strong revenue earner for Snapchat, with the platform planning to expand their Discovery partners.