Instagram is a powerhouse of 5.3 billion daily users, making it the perfect spot to attract potential customers. As an eCommerce business, harnessing the power of Instagram Shopping can help elevate your sales and find the target audience.
By integrating your Shopify business with an Instagram Shop, you rake in high profits and advertise your store through reels, product tags, and shop tags that smoothly take the customer to your online store.
It’s time to transform mere browsers into buyers and make your digital storefront thrive on Instagram. Before we explain the entire process from scratch, check if your country meets the requirements of setting up an Instagram Shop with Shopify –
| Region | Eligible Countries |
| North America [N/A] | United States of America, Canada. |
| Latin America [LATAM] | Brazil, Mexico |
| Europe, Middle East & Africa [EMEA] | Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine*, United Kingdom |
| Asia Pacific [APAC] | Australia, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Thailand |
This blog will cover the entire process of setting up your Instagram Shop with Shopify and share every minute detail a Shopify Merchant must know – the setup process, how to tag your products, the difference between Instagram Shopping and Instagram Shop, integrating product catalogs + bonus sections that we’ve especially added for the merchant’s advantage.
So, let’s understand the world of Instagram Shopping and get double ❤️ on your products!
Table of Contents
What Is Instagram Shopping?
Instagram Shopping is a feature that lets businesses tag products in posts and stories and reach targeted audiences through reels, posts, pictures, etc.
An eCommerce business must create a product catalog to connect with potential customers and showcase their products effectively. This catalog is then utilized to present products seamlessly through stories, reels, and posts, making your store easily discoverable.
An important element of this feature is an Instagram Shop, where a merchant can curate their products in one place and provide an immersive shopping experience to customers, accessible through the Instagram business profile.
Another important part is Instagram Ads, which can be used to promote your Instagram Shop or products via posts, stories, or reels. These ads include images or videos that link to your Shop or online store. You can manage these ads on the Ads Manager, create shoppable posts, and add shopping tags to those posts.
Now, let’s dive into what an Instagram Shop is and how you can set it up.
How Does An Instagram Shop Look?
An Instagram Shop is a comprehensive feature linked to your business profile that comes with a ‘Shop’ tab and takes the customer to the product catalog, serving as a storefront for your Shopify business. With the integration of an Instagram shopping product feed, it allows for seamless syncing of your products, making it easy to keep your catalog up-to-date.
It provides personalized recommendations and a feature to save products so customers can view them later. It’s a great way to start sell on Instagram by offering an in-app store for Instagrammers.
Not only that, if you’re a small business who is looking for ways to grow your small business on Instagram, then Instagram Shops can help you.
Let’s take a look at how an Instagram Shop looks from a customer’s perspective and how this will help you see from the eyes of the customer. We have taken the example of Kylie Cosmetics, a brand that uses Shopify’s services –
The profile includes the store link in the bio and a link to the business’s Threads account. Additionally, the bio showcases the latest arrivals, aiming to entice customers by piquing their curiosity about the new arrivals.
Notice how the profile has a ‘Shop’ button on the right side. On clicking, you’ll reach the Shop –
Here, you can see the product catalog that can be customized easily. Click on any product to view it –
The product page encapsulates the product image, title, price, product info, more details, delivery & returns, and about the shop. You can also share the product with anyone or save it and view it later. A ‘Visit on Website’ button also takes the customer to the brand’s official eCommerce store.
This is how an Instagram Shop looks to the customer. By learning about the journey, you can easily set up your Instagram Shop and curate product catalogs for the customer.
| Also, learn how you can create a Facebook Marketplace & re-sell used products. |
What Are The Prerequisites For Setting Up Instagram Shop With Shopify?
Time to explore the Instagram Shop checklist you need before setting up your shop. Here are all the things you need –
1. Shopify Account & Store:
Ensure that your Shopify account and store are up and running. You can create a Shopify store from scratch and add your products if you don’t have one.
2. Facebook Account:
Instagram is a part of Meta technologies. So, ensure you have a Facebook account before you create a Shop. It helps connect with all Meta technologies – Facebook Ads, Facebook marketplace, and Commerce Manager.
You can also use it to set up a Facebook Shop. However, if you choose only to use Instagram Shop, you can skip creating a Facebook Shop.
3. Meta Commerce Manager:
Meta Commerce Manager (Facebook Business Manager) helps manage sales and inventory on Instagram and Facebook. When selling physical products, Commerce Manager comes in handy for managing all the products in one place.
Using it, you can customize your Instagram Shop and gain insights on customers’ likes and interests.
3. Facebook & Instagram Sales Channel:
Adding the Facebook & Instagram Sales Channel app to your Shopify store is very important. It is the bridge that connects all your Facebook and Instagram accounts and synergizes them to run Facebook Shop, Instagram Shop, Facebook ad campaigns, and more.
4. Instagram Account In Business/Professional Mode:
Switching to a business account offers a variety of perks. You get detailed analysis and insights and can track engagement, etc., with the help of it.
First, open the Instagram app on your mobile device or the computer application and log in to your account, which you’ll use for the business.
Navigate to the three bars on the top right.
Then, go to ‘Settings and Privacy.’ In the search bar, enter ‘Professional’, and you’ll see the following displayed –
OR
Go to the ‘Edit Profile’ section and scroll down –
Tap on ‘Switch to professional account’ and finish the setup.
5. Check Eligibility
The most important element is to check if you are eligible for an Instagram Shop. The eligibility criteria involve –
- You must be in an eligible region (the list is above in the introduction section).
- Your store consists of physical products.
- You need to have an eCommerce website.
- Your profile on Instagram is a business/professional profile.
- You must agree and follow Instagram’s merchant agreement and commerce policies.
In case you don’t meet a few eligibility criteria, let’s say if your region is not eligible to set up an Instagram Shop, try using a VPN to set it up but be careful of any legal policies that Instagram has implemented. You can even contact the Instagram team and explain the situation if you’re selling goods abroad.
You can even utilize the product catalog to run Instagram ads. To add a product catalog, you can use a third-party application like AdNabu, which can easily push product data from Shopify to Instagram in an instant. We’ve discussed this in the later sections.
Setting Up Instagram Shop With Shopify
Now that all your accounts are set and ready to run, let’s see how you can set up your Instagram Shop –
Link Facebook With Shopify And Create A Shop
Step 1. Use Meta Commerce Manager (Facebook Business Manager) To Create A Shop. You can either visit the Commerce Manager dashboard directly and click Add Account or visit www.facebook.com/business/tools/commerce-manager.
Step 2. Go to Commerce Manager or a supported platform and start the process of creating a Shop.
Click ‘Get Started.’ In the ‘Choose a way to sell,’ select ‘Create a Shop’ –
Read the instructions carefully and continue.
Step 3. Next step, connect a third-party platform. In this case, select Shopify.
Ensure that the Facebook & Instagram sales channel is linked. Connect it with the Shop and proceed.
Step 4. Once that is done, move to the ‘Checkout Method’ and select the method you want the customers to make a purchase. If you opt for ‘Checkout on Another Website,’ the customer will get redirected to your official eCommerce store.
The second option, Checkout with Facebook or Instagram, is only available in the United States.
The third option, Checkout with Message, drops a message to the business on a messaging platform like WhatsApp or Messenger but not to the website or in-app checkout.
Step 5. Next, select a Sales Channel, which is basically the Instagram business account. Once that’s done, connect your account with a Facebook Page.
It’s not mandatory anymore to connect your Instagram Business with a Facebook Page; however, if you have one, here is how you can connect the two –
Go to your Instagram business profile and click ‘Edit Profile.’ In that, scroll down to ‘Public Business Information’ > Page. Now, select your Facebook Page and connect them.
Exporting Product Catalog To Facebook & Instagram
It’s time to upload your product catalog to Instagram. A product catalog is essential to display your products sourced from your online store to customers.
There are two ways to upload a product catalog –
- Using data feed URL from an eCommerce platform (recommended).
- Add products manually through Commerce Manager.
The first method uses a data source (a data feed URL) that helps add updated product data from your Shopify feed.
You can obtain a data feed URL by integrating your Shopify store with a third-party application. One app you can try is AdNabu. AdNabu is a product feed management app designed for Shopify merchants to aid in their marketing efforts, integrate their online store with top marketplaces, provide dashboard analytics, and more. It also generates distinctive and up-to-date data feed URLs.
This URL helps avoid the pain of building an Instagram catalog from scratch and quickly adds all the product information. The app syncs the Shopify product feed with Instagram, which can help with –
- Running Instagram ads.
- Creating shoppable posts.
- Managing Instagram Shop via Meta Commerce Manager. o
The app assures that merchants retrieve accurate data about their product catalog from Shopify and keeps your storefront on Instagram updated.
Apart from Instagram, the app generates data feed URLs for all top marketplaces, like Facebook, Pinterest, Bing Shopping, Snapchat, X (formerly Twitter), TikTok, and Google Shopping.
You can easily add the feed URL within seconds. Here is how you can do it –
- After adding the AdNabu app to Shopify admin, go to Marketplaces in the app.
- In the Marketplaces section, select Facebook and Instagram Marketplace.
Scroll down and locate the Data Feed URL.
- Copy the Data Feed URL and open the Meta Commerce Manager > Catalog section.
- Then, locate Data Sources > Add items.
- In that section, select Data Feed and paste the URL.
Another way is to upload the product feed file manually. For that, follow the steps:
- Use AdNabu or any other product feed application to get the Feed URL, or go to the Shopify admin account > Products.
- In the Products section, click on Export on the top right side.
- Download the CSV file format.
- Now, go to Meta Commerce Manager. Navigate to Catalogue. If you have not created one, then click on Create A Catalogue. This page appears after you click ‘Get Started’ if you’re new or in the Assets section.
- Since our store is an e-commerce store, select that.
- Choose a partner platform.
- Finally, your Catalogue is ready.
- On the right side, click on Add Items. You’ll reach this page:
- Select Data Feed. It will list the instructions you need to follow.
- Choose the type of upload. Since we have downloaded the CSV file from our Shopify admin, we will choose to upload it from our computer.
- After uploading, click Next.
- Select the currency and start the upload. It will take some time to upload. Check all the warnings you receive, for example, ID duplications, GTIN checks, etc. After fixing those, your products will finally be exported to Facebook.
This is how your catalog will look.
Now that your Shop is set up and the product catalog is uploaded and ready, it’s time to submit your Shop for approval.
Visit your business profile on Instagram and tap ‘Sign Up for Instagram Shopping.’ Follow the instructions as the app directs, and once you’ve submitted it, you can check the status of your review in the ‘Shopping’ section.
After your Instagram Shop gets reviewed and approved, you need to link the Shop with the product catalog. The process is simple – Go to your profile > Business > Shopping. In that, choose the product catalog you want to display. Finally, press Done.
How To Manage & Advertise Products On Instagram?
Now that your Instagram Shop is set, we’ll delve into adding products and customizing them for the customers.
Adding Products To Instagram Shop
By linking your product feed with Instagram, you can easily add and remove them from the ‘Manage Shop’ section. This is possible only if you have created a product catalog. The catalog helps create product detail pages (PDPs), collections, shoppable tags, etc.
Product Detail Pages (PDPs)
After adding products to your Shop, you must add product detail pages too for each product. Product detail pages (PDPs) are pages that showcase every detail about the product. They include – photos, descriptions, variants, and pricing.
Here is how a PDP looks –
As you scroll down, you’ll get more information about the products and also get social proof via tags.
Collections
After adding products to Shop, you can view all of them in a collection. Collections are where all the products you’ve added to the Shop are presented to the customers in an organized way. Your shop can be optimized with the help of categories, product searches, recommended products, featured products, and more.
Customers can visit collections through the ‘Shop’ tab on your profile. Creating collections for your Instagram Shop is simple and can be easily done on Commerce Manager.
Here is an example of how collections look on your Instagram Shop –
It’s time to take your Shop to the customers with the Shopping Tag feature. Shopping tags are added to stories, posts, and reels that display the details of the product and take the customer to the website or make a direct purchase (Checkout feature available only in the US).
You can easily add shoppable tags in image/video posts and reels.
Here’s how tags look on your posts –
Checkout Feature
This feature is only available in the United States. It lets customers make a purchase within the app without leaving Instagram. So, a customer is not directed to your Shopify store or to a messaging platform.
Reasons To Use Instagram Shopping With Shopify
Instagram offers various perks that help build brand awareness, advertisements, and Shops to purchase items directly. Here is how it can help you and your business –
- Large User Base Helps With Wide Reach
Instagram’s billions of monthly users provide a significant advantage for building brand awareness and reaching potential customers. You can also reach the target audience by collaborating with influencers.
- Easy To Set Up Ad Campaigns
Running ad campaigns is easy as you can tag products and redirect merchants to the store. With a huge user base, getting conversions on ads catering to the viewers’ interests is easy.
- In-Built Features For Businesses
Instagram offers a variety of features to track user engagement and keep tabs on customer activity through insights, saved posts, page visits, etc. Its analytical tools make tracking your store’s performance easy and formulate a strategy based on engagement.
The user-friendly interface and in-app checkout feature (US only) minimize cart abandonment, while product tags offer customers a second-hand experience of the products.
Conclusion
To summarize, Instagram Shopping has helped businesses reach many people and improve revenue. From small to big businesses, it’s an ideal platform to market your products and set up a storefront that makes shopping convenient and hassle-free for the customer.
So, utilize all Instagram Shopping’s features and open new possibilities for your Shopify Store!
FAQs
1. What budget should I consider for starting an Instagram Shop with Shopify?
Budget considerations include Shopify subscription costs, any additional app or plugin expenses, and marketing or advertising costs on Instagram.
Setting up an Instagram Shop is free. However, adding a Sales Channel and running other apps for your online store may cost around $50 to $100.
2. What are common issues when setting up an Instagram Shop with Shopify, and how can I resolve them?
Common issues when setting up Instagram Shop include product approval delays, disconnection between Shopify and Instagram, and discrepancies in product information.
In order to resolve these issues, double-check product compliance, ensure accurate account linking, and regularly update your product catalog.
3. How does using Meta’s platforms (Facebook and Instagram) enhance my Shopify store’s reach?
Using Meta’s platforms extends your Shopify store’s reach by leveraging social media’s vast audience. It enables targeted advertising and direct selling through Instagram Shop and enhances brand visibility.
Running ads and adding Shops on both Instagram and Facebook is also affordable. So it does not burn a hole in your pocket.
These platforms are trustworthy, with billions of users. It is easy to find potential customers based on their interests, age, demographics, etc.
Lastly, you receive analytics and insights based on customer activity, which helps strategize sales plans and improve the store and ad campaigns. It is also easy to integrate third-party apps and tools to enhance the functionality of your online store.
4. How can I use Instagram’s features to drive sales to my Shopify store?
Instagram Shopping helps utilize Instagram features like shoppable posts, stories, and Instagram Live to showcase products, offer promotions, and engage directly with your audience to drive sales to your Shopify store.
This app has a big pool of potential customers, and creating targeted ads on Instagram will help attract them to your e-commerce store. By using a business account, you can even gain insights on customer activity – no. of visits made, followers count, analytics, etc.
Another great feature is product tags, which provide product information that quickens the buying process. If you live in the US, you can even utilize Instagram’s Checkout feature, which lets you make payments within the app. Other payment methods include linking your Shopify store and connecting a messaging app.
5. What metrics should I track to measure the success of my Instagram Shop linked to Shopify?
The important metrics that you must track are – engagement rate, click-through rate, conversion rate, and sales generated from Instagram to gauge the success of your Instagram Shop.
You can also integrate third-party analytics that provides in-depth information about your store’s performance.
6. Can I manage my Instagram Shop orders directly through Shopify?
Yes, orders placed via your Instagram Shop can be managed directly through Shopify’s dashboard, allowing for a centralized order management system.
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