How to Set Up a Shop and Sell on Instagram in 9 Steps

Before you set up a store of your own, you need to do your homework and learn what, exactly, Instagram Shopping is.

In brief, Instagram Shopping allows you to integrate your Instagram account with an e-commerce store. It enables Instagram users to browse and purchase products from your brand directly through the app without having to navigate to your website.

How Instagram Shopping works: the broad strokes

Once you set up a shop on Instagram, whenever you post about a product, you can add a link to it.

The link will appear as a shopping bag icon, which will direct customers to the item and the rest of your catalog. If someone wants to purchase the item, they can check out via your Instagram shop or your website.

Here’s a post from the account “Mack Books,” for example. They added a link to the book “Swimmers” in the post; you can see the shopping bag icon in the bottom left corner of the image.

If you want, you can even import your entire catalog to your Instagram shop. Your customers can then view all of your products directly from your profile.

Essentially, Instagram Shopping makes the shopping experience easier for buyers on Instagram, which—at least in theory—translates to more sales and more money in your pocket.

Can you sell with Instagram Shopping without a website?

No, unfortunately, you can’t sell with Instagram Shopping without a website. Having an online store is a prerequisite to setting up an Instagram shop.

If you don’t have a website already, you can create one with one of Meta’s many partner platforms, which include:

• Ecwid
• Shift4Shop
• Shopify
• Wix
• WooCommerce

Before diving head-first into launching your Instagram shop, you also need to take a moment to check if this is a feasible move for your business.

As mentioned, you need to already have an online store set up somewhere, so this isn’t the right move (yet!) if you’re only just launching your e-commerce side hustle.

In addition, you must meet the following criteria:

• You must be in one of Instagram Shopping’s eligible countries, which include the US, UK, and Canada.
• You must have an Instagram business account or creator account.
• Your professional Instagram account must abide by Instagram’s Terms of Use and Community Guidelines.
• You must have a Meta Business Manager account.

We’ll explain how to set up the accounts you need in the next few steps, so the only requirement that you really need to worry about at this stage is whether you’re in a supported location.

As we mentioned, having a business account is a prerequisite to using Instagram Shopping. The good news is that converting your Instagram account to a business account is very simple.

Here’s how to do it. First, go to your profile and click on the three lines at the top right corner:

Next, click on “Settings.”

Scroll down to “For professionals” and click on “Account type and tools.”

Click “Switch to professional account” and select a category for your business when prompted.

Lastly, select the category that accurately describes your business.

Before setting up your Shop, you have to create a Meta Business Manager account if you don’t already have one. This way, you can upload and manage products on both Instagram and Facebook later on.

To create an account, you only need to confirm your identity and provide your business information.

Once you’re fully eligible to use Instagram Shopping, visit the Commerce Manager page on Facebook to create a shop. Over there, click “Get started” and follow the instructions. Here are the steps you’ll go through:

Connect a third-party platform: Select the third-party platform that hosts your business’s e-commerce website to connect it to your shop.

Choose a checkout method: You can choose to have your customers check out directly on Instagram or Facebook, on your business’s site, or by messaging your business via Messenger or WhatsApp.

Pick a sales channel: Select a Facebook business page to serve as your sales channel. If you don’t have one already, click “Create a new page,” fill in your page name, business category, and business bio, and click “Done.”

Connect your business portfolio: Select a Facebook business portfolio. If you don’t have one already, click “Create a new business portfolio,” fill in your business portfolio name and business email, and click “Create.”

Add products: Select the catalog with the products you want to sell in your shop (you can only select one, and this isn’t changeable, so do this carefully).

Existing product catalogs must meet certain criteria for you to select them. They must:

• Include items in the correct catalog type (e.g., e-commerce, travel, real estate)
• Not be linked to any other shops
• Be managed and owned by you
• Include at least one item (with a maximum of 10 million—yes, really)
• Include valid product links

If you don’t have one yet, click “Create new catalog” to create one.

Add shipping destinations: Select the countries or regions your business will ship to.

Preview your shop: Check if your shop’s details are correct. If so, click “Finish setup” to complete the process.

Customize your shop: You’ll be redirected to the Commerce Manager, which is a hub where you can manage everything related to your business, including messages, marketing content, ads, performance insights, and billing and payments.

On top of that, you can optimize the appearance of your shop. For instance, you can manage your catalog, create collections of relevant products, put up promotion banners, and design the layout of your shop. With collections, you can group selected products by category, theme, price, or popularity.

Link your Instagram account: Finally, click the “Business settings” button on your Commerce Manager page (the tool icon at the bottom-left corner).

On the next page, click “Instagram accounts” in the bar on the left and add an Instagram account to your Facebook shop so that you can sell on both platforms.

At this point, you’re all done and ready to start actually marketing and selling your products. Congratulations!

Creating content for your shop is crucial to attracting customers and driving engagement. After all, Instagram is, at its core, a photo and video-sharing app.

This might go without saying, but the photos and videos you post should be high-quality and paired with relevant (and well-written) captions. It’s also important to have a unique logo that reflects your brand.

Make sure your content is cohesive. Use a consistent writing voice and tone, as well as coherent visual elements (e.g., color palette and typography).

If you’ve never created this type of content, you can watch free YouTube tutorials or take an online course to hone your skills.

If your budget allows for it, it could be worth it to hire a professional to assist you in creating content and building your brand’s presence on Instagram.

Instagram offers several features you can take advantage of for marketing purposes:

• Stories, reels, and IGTV: Use these strategically to promote your products and engage with users. Stories are best for ephemeral content (e.g., polls and quizzes), reels for shorter videos, and IGTV for longer videos.
• Shopping tags: By adding shopping tags to stories and posts about products, you allow buyers to easily click on them and be directed to checkout. To do this, click “Tag product” when you share a story or post, enter your shop’s name, and select the product.
• Hashtags: Adding relevant hashtags (in moderation) to your posts improves their search visibility. In addition to using popular hashtags that describe your products, you can also create distinctive hashtags that are unique to your brand.
• Ads: You can run paid ads with product tags from the Meta Ads Manager, which also lets you track your ads’ performance. To access this feature, you must enable the Facebook and Instagram checkout methods for your shop.

Remember to be active on Instagram and interact with your followers regularly to foster good relationships and build a loyal customer base.

Get off to a good start by posting on a schedule and responding or reacting to comments, direct messages, and mentions. You can also try these strategies:

• Post about other topics: Rather than only posting about your products, try sharing a variety of interactive content, such as contests, promotions, giveaways, and Q&A sessions. Doing so will bring your brand closer to your followers, who’ll be more likely to revisit your shop. You can also gather constructive feedback from them to improve your business.
• Work with influencers: Consider also collaborating with respectable influencers and other businesses to build your audience and your credibility.

There are many ways you can execute a collaboration. With influencers, you’ll typically compensate them with free products (or simply by paying them) in exchange for them to promote your brand.

With businesses, you could cross-promote each other’s products, create a joint campaign, or co-host a mutually beneficial event.

Customer service is key to successfully running any type of business. No matter how great your product is, customers are unlikely to revisit your shop if they had a bad experience. They might even leave negative reviews, which will damage your brand’s reputation.

To secure recurring customers, make sure to:

• Respond to every inquiry you receive
• Resolve issues promptly
• Handle returns without putting up a fuss
• Ship orders quickly and professionally

Make sure your shipping method allows customers to track their packages so that they’ll feel more comfortable purchasing from your store.

Lastly, continuously analyze your shop’s performance and optimize your sales strategies according to how it’s doing so that you can grow your business.

To view the stats for your Instagram profile (whether it’s a business or creator account), head to your profile page and click on “Professional dashboard” located below your description.

You can view metrics such as how many accounts you’ve reached and engaged. You can also access ads and branded content tools over there.

What’s more, you can track your shop’s metrics and download them in spreadsheet form. To do so, visit the Commerce Manager (linked above) and click on “Insights” on the left-hand side.

Consider also A/B testing your Facebook and Instagram pages—comparing different versions of them to determine which ones perform better.

Meta currently offers its own A/B testing tool for testing video posts. To access it, head over to your Facebook business page’s homepage, click on “Professional dashboard” on the left-hand side, scroll down to “A/B Tests” and click on it.

Of course, you can always use a third-party paid tool to monitor your Instagram analytics, too. If you’re interested in this option, remember to do your due diligence to make sure you’re spending your money wisely.

Aside from monitoring your shop’s performance, stay on top of the latest Instagram algorithm and feature updates and conduct regular competitor analysis to remain competitive and relevant in the market. Good luck!