How to set up an Instagram store with Instagram Shopping

With Instagram Shopping, you can sell products directly via an Instagram business account. If you want to set up Instagram Shopping, link your Instagram account to your Facebook account and choose a category, your preferred design, and products to import from your Facebook catalog. The Instagram store and products are managed via the Commerce Manager.

Introduced by Mark Zuckerberg in 2020, Instagram Shopping is a newish, free feature provided by the social app. It builds on the discovery that many businesses are now selling via Instagram. In a nutshell, Instagram Shopping is a microsite for products integrated into an Instagram account. Products are imported by linking to a Facebook business account and selected product catalogs.

The shopping feature lets you manage product images, descriptions, prices, and links so customers can check out via an Instagram profile. Depending on the store software in use, customers won’t even have to navigate away from the Instagram app. The benefits of Instagram Shopping should not be underestimated: out of around one billion users globally, 50 to 80 percent follow at least one business profile according to surveys. The opportunities for social commerce, social selling, and influencer marketing are enormous.

With Instagram Shopping, you use an Instagram-integrated store to feature products and collections. These can be tagged in profile photos, Instagram Stories, and Instagram Reels to direct visitors to your Instagram store. In addition, the Shop button and Shop tab in your profile list products imported from Facebook and invites visitors to browse your portfolio. Customers can use the checkout function to make in-app purchases or buy from your online store.

You can tag up to five products in your shopping posts. Instagram carousels let you tag up to 20. In Stories or Reels, you can tag one product each. Your visitors will see the product name and pricing, a link to the product page, and a shopping basket icon. Product tags and stickers redirect users to the Instagram store. If a product is tagged, you’ll be notified in your shopping feed on your business profile.

Setting up and using Instagram Shopping is free, but the platform charges to place ads to direct potential customers to your store. There are also sales fees for products sold or chargebacks. For sales, taxes and payment processing fees are deducted from a seller’s payout. More information about fees can be found in the Commerce Manager financial reports.

To get started with your Instagram store and boost product reach, follow these steps.

Before setting up your Instagram store, check Facebook’s or Meta’s Retail Qualification Requirements. The following conditions must be met:

1. You must adhere to Facebook guidelines.
2. Your store must contain only products (not services) that are related to your company, your website, or online store.
3. Your products and company must be located in a market supported by Facebook.
4. Your Instagram business account and online store must be serious, transparent, and customer friendly.

Start by setting up the store in Commerce Manager or import it from your store platform via Facebook. The advantage is that you can synchronize your product listing and include information from your Instagram store. Some of the eCommerce platforms supported for product import are:

1. Shopify
2. WooCommerce
3. Magento
4. BigCommerce
5. CommerceHub
6. Feedonomics
7. OpenCart

Set your preferred checkout method and sales channel in the Commerce Manager. Select whether you want the store to be used primarily for Instagram or Facebook too. Now link existing product catalogs to your store or build a new catalog by adding products, prices, and descriptions.

Select “E-commerce” as the category for your store to add product tags and product stickers to Instagram posts. In your profile, navigate to “Settings” > “Business” > “Instagram Shopping” to submit your store to Instagram for verification. This should only take a few days. Following confirmation, you can tag products via “Tag products” in Instagram posts and expand your store.

Instagram Shopping should be accompanied by additional marketing efforts focused on attracting new Instagram followers and customers. These include a professional Instagram bio, Instagram Ads, and strategies to measure campaign success using Instagram statistics tools.

To use Instagram Shopping optimally, follow these tips:

Whether you’re selling hardware, fashion, or art, be sure to customize your shopping stickers and shopping feed to match your style, brand, and company profile. Be transparent and reach out to your target audience in a professional manner, e.g. by adding testimonials, reviews, or price-performance comparisons.

Although shopping stickers can’t be integrated in adverts, you can schedule Instagram Ads, link to your shopping feed, and motivate people to click through.

The Instagram algorithm counts the number of users reading captions and hashtags. Successful captions improve the ranking and visibility of your profile on the Instagram Explore page. Think about useful, explanatory, or interesting captions for posts in a shopping feed and integrate hashtags.

Sad, but true: many users instinctively consider shopping posts to be adverts and scroll past them. That’s why it’s important to create an eye-catching store that includes quality product photos and consistent branding. Try to avoid spelling errors in captions, product names, and prices.