How do you set up Instagram Shopping and create an Instagram store?

With Instagram Shopping, you can sell your products directly through an Instagram Business or Creator account. To set it up, your Instagram account must be linked to a Facebook Page within a Meta account, and a product catalogue must be created in the Meta Commerce Manager. Your Instagram shop and its product cata­logues are then managed through the Commerce Manager.

What is Instagram Shopping?

Instagram Shopping is a free Meta feature that lets you showcase and sell your products directly on Instagram. At its core, it’s a native shop in­teg­ra­tion in which products are displayed directly in your Instagram profile as well as in posts, Reels, and Instagram Stories via product tags and stickers.

Setup is completed by linking your Instagram account to a Facebook Page within a Meta account and creating a product catalogue in the Meta Commerce Manager. There, you can centrally manage product images, de­scrip­tions, prices and links. In most cases, purchases are processed through your online shop’s checkout. The avail­ab­il­ity of native checkout features depends on the country and your shop con­fig­ur­a­tion and may change over time.

Instagram Shopping therefore plays a central role in social commerce and com­ple­ments strategies such as social selling and in­flu­en­cer marketing, as products can be dis­covered and purchased directly within the usage context.

How much does Instagram Shopping cost?

Use and setup of Instagram’s Shopping feature are generally free of charge. Costs only arise, for example, if you run ads that direct potential customers to your shop. Trans­ac­tion fees depend on the checkout system you use and should be reviewed in Meta’s current payment terms.

In the re­l­at­ively rare cases where the in-app checkout is used, Meta retains platform and payment pro­cessing fees, which can be viewed in the financial reports within the Commerce Manager. Chargeback or payment fees also apply only to sales processed directly through Instagram.

How to enable Instagram Shopping

Follow these steps to create your own Instagram shop and increase the vis­ib­il­ity of your products.

Step 1: Check re­quire­ments for merchant eli­gib­il­ity

Before setting up your Instagram store, review Facebook’s or Meta’s eli­gib­il­ity criteria. The following re­quire­ments must be met:

1. Make sure you comply with Meta’s policies and commerce guidelines.
2. Your Instagram shop may only feature physical products (not services) that are directly linked to your business and your own website or online store.
3. Both your products and your business location must be based in a market supported by Facebook.
4. Your Instagram Business account and online shop should be trust­worthy, trans­par­ent and designed with customers in mind.

Step 2: Set up Meta Business Manager

Meta Business Manager is Meta’s central man­age­ment platform for busi­nesses. It’s required to use Instagram Shopping, Commerce Manager, ad accounts, and access per­mis­sions pro­fes­sion­ally.

1. Open the Meta Business Suite in your browser.
2. Log in with your Facebook account.
3. If you don’t yet have a business account, follow the prompts to create a business portfolio and enter your company details.
4. Go to ‘Settings’ and open ‘Business settings’.
5. Under ‘Accounts → Pages’, click ‘Add’ and select ‘Create a New Page’.

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Step 3: Create an Instagram business account

If your Instagram account is not yet a Pro­fes­sion­al account, you first need to switch account types and connect it to a Facebook Page.

Step 1: Go to your profile, tap the three-line menu icon and select ‘Settings and activity’ or ‘Settings and privacy’, depending on the app version.

Step 2: Scroll to ‘Account type and tools’ and tap ‘Switch to pro­fes­sion­al account’.

Step 3: Choose a Business account, select the ap­pro­pri­ate category and confirm your contact details.

Step 4: Connect your Instagram account to a Facebook Page by following the prompts during setup or by going to ‘Account type and tools’ and selecting ‘Connect to Facebook Page’.

Step 4: On­board­ing and setting up Instagram Shopping

Begin setting up your Instagram store in Commerce Manager, or import it from your existing store platform through Facebook. This allows your product listings, including all relevant details, to sync auto­mat­ic­ally with your Instagram store. The following e-commerce platforms, among others, support product imports:

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

You can check the Meta Business Partner Directory to see which partner platforms are currently supported. In Commerce Manager, you’ll select the preferred checkout method for com­plet­ing sales and choose your sales channel. Then, you can decide whether your shop will be used ex­clus­ively for Instagram or also for Facebook. Af­ter­wards, you can either link an existing product catalogue to your shop or create a new catalogue by adding products with their prices and de­scrip­tions.

Before Instagram approves your shop and product tags for Instagram Shopping, Meta typically requires veri­fic­a­tion of your website domain. This step confirms that you are the legal owner of the domain linked to your product details and checkout links. Without domain veri­fic­a­tion, Meta may delay or reject the shop setup process.

Step 5: Activate the shop and have it reviewed by Instagram

Once your shop and product catalogue are set up in Commerce Manager and connected to your pro­fes­sion­al Instagram account, you can submit your account for review. Approval typically takes a few days, and you can check the review status at any time in Commerce Manager. After approval, you’ll be able to tag products in Instagram posts using the ‘Tag Products’ option and add product stickers in Stories and other eligible formats.

Data privacy when using an Instagram store

When selling through Instagram Shopping and Facebook in the United Kingdom, busi­nesses must comply with the UK GDPR and the Data Pro­tec­tion Act 2018, as well as Meta’s platform re­quire­ments. Personal data is processed, for example, when tracking user in­ter­ac­tions, re­dir­ect­ing users to an online store, or using tools such as Meta Pixel and the Con­ver­sions API.

Busi­nesses must provide a clear and ac­cess­ible Privacy Policy ex­plain­ing what personal data is collected, the legal basis for pro­cessing, how the data is used, how long it is retained, and whether it is shared with third parties. In­di­vidu­als in the UK have rights including access, rec­ti­fic­a­tion, erasure, re­stric­tion of pro­cessing, and the right to object.

Failure to comply with UK data pro­tec­tion laws may result in en­force­ment action by the In­form­a­tion Com­mis­sion­er’s Office (ICO) or platform re­stric­tions.

4 tips for using Instagram Shopping ef­fect­ively

Instagram Shopping doesn’t work ef­fect­ively on its own. To attract new Instagram followers and convert them into customers, it should be supported by ad­di­tion­al marketing measures. These include op­tim­ising your Instagram bio, running targeted Instagram ads, and mon­it­or­ing per­form­ance with pro­fes­sion­al tools for Instagram analytics.

Use the following tips to get the most out of Instagram Shopping.

Tip 1: Maintain a con­sist­ent style

Whether you sell hardware, fashion, or art, tailor shopping stickers and your shopping feed to your style, your brand, and your business profile. Be trans­par­ent and address your target audience pro­fes­sion­ally, for example with testi­mo­ni­als, reviews, or a detailed value-for-money breakdown.

Tip 2: Use Instagram ads

Instagram ads can now be linked directly to product tags from your Instagram store. This lets you tag products in feed, story, or reel ads and guide users straight to the relevant items. Shopping ads are es­pe­cially effective for building reach, targeting new audiences, and driving purchase intent.

Tip 3: Use captions to work with the algorithm

The Instagram algorithm pays attention to how many users read captions and which hashtags perform well. Optimised captions also improve your profile’s ranking and vis­ib­il­ity on Instagram’s Explore page. Use helpful, ex­plan­at­ory, or in­ter­est­ing captions for posts in your shopping feed and include hashtags.

Tip 4: Use high-quality images and designs

Un­for­tu­nately, many users auto­mat­ic­ally perceive shopping posts as ads and may simply scroll past them. To capture attention, use high-quality product images and maintain a con­sist­ent visual identity for your shop. At the same time, ensure that labels, product names, and prices are accurate and error-free.