Watch: Snap Minis are part of the social media ecommerce revolution

Brands should take notice of Snap Minis, Snapchat's recently announced feature, because it opens the door for social media users to "do stuff" on the platform rather than just chat to one another.

That's the view of VCCP's head of innovation, Peter Gasston, whose says Minis mark the beginning of Snapchat's move into social commerce, which is already a multibillion-dollar market in China and will soon be big in the US and Europe.

Snap Minis, due to launch in July, are a new way for developers to put third-party media built with HTML5 into Snapchat and integrate it within user conversations on the platform. For example, Headspace has created a Headspace Mini that allows Snapchatters to meditate and send messages to friends, while Atom helps friends buy cinema tickets and watch film trailers.