How to Add Shopping to Instagram

Turning your Instagram feed into an interactive, shoppable storefront is one of the most powerful moves you can make for your brand today. No longer just a place for pretty pictures, Instagram is a full-fledged sales channel where users can discover and buy products without ever leaving the app. This guide provides a complete, step-by-step walkthrough of exactly how to set up Instagram Shopping, tag your products, and start driving sales directly from your content.

What Exactly is Instagram Shopping?

Instagram Shopping is a set of e-commerce features that allows businesses to create a digital, shareable catalog of their products directly on Instagram. It moves your brand beyond simple brand awareness and transforms your account into an on-the-go storefront.

Core features include:

• Product Tags: Similar to tagging a person, you can tag specific products in your feed posts and Reels, showing the item name and price.
• Shopping Stickers: Add interactive stickers to your Stories that users can tap to view a product.
• Shop Tab: A dedicated "Shop" tab on your profile page that houses your entire product catalog, much like a mini-website.
• Product Detail Pages (PDPs): When a user clicks a product tag or sticker, they are taken to a product page within Instagram that shows more images, descriptions, pricing, and a link to purchase on your website.
• Collections: Curate and group products by theme, season, or anything you like (e.g., "Trending Gifts," "Summer Skincare Essentials").

For brands and creators, this ecosystem turns followers from passive scrollers into active shoppers by drastically reducing the friction between seeing a product they love and being able to purchase it.

The Pre-Flight Checklist: Eligibility Requirements

Before you get started, Meta has a few boxes you need to check to make sure your business is eligible for Instagram Shopping. It's best to confirm these first to avoid any setup headaches later on.

• You need a professional account. This can be either a Creator or Business account. If you're still using a personal profile, you can switch for free in your settings.
• You must be in a supported market. Instagram Shopping is available in many countries across the globe, but not all. Check the official list to confirm your location is on it.
• You must sell eligible physical goods. The policy is geared toward tangible products. Services, digital products, and items that violate Meta's Commerce Policies are not eligible.
• You need a website. Your Instagram Shop needs to connect to an e-commerce website domain that you own and from which you sell.
• You must comply with the rules. Your business must follow Instagram's merchant agreement and commerce policies, which primarily focus on authenticity, accuracy, and transparency.

If you've checked all these boxes, you're ready to get started!

How to Set Up Instagram Shopping: A Step-by-Step Guide

Getting your shop live involves connecting a few accounts behind the scenes and getting your product catalog loaded. Follow these steps carefully, and you'll be set up in no time.

Step 1: Convert to a Business or Creator Account

If you haven't already, switching to a professional account unlocks access to analytics, ads, and, most importantly, Instagram Shopping. It's a simple switch you can make right in the app.

1. Go to your Instagram profile and tap the three-line menu in the top-right corner.
2. Select Settings and privacy.
3. Scroll down and tap Account type and tools.
4. Tap Switch to professional account and follow the prompts. You can choose either a 'Creator' or 'Business' account - both are eligible for shopping features.

Step 2: Connect Your Instagram Account to a Facebook Page

Everything related to commerce on Instagram and Facebook is managed through Meta's backend tools. Because of this, your Instagram professional account must be linked to a Facebook Business Page.

1. Navigate back to your Instagram profile page.
2. Tap Edit Profile.
3. Under "Public business information," tap Page.
4. Select the Facebook Page you want to connect or create a new one. If you have an existing page for your business, it should pop up as an option.

This simple link is the foundation for managing your shop.

Step 3: Create Your Product Catalog

Your catalog is the inventory database that powers your Instagram Shop. It's a file containing all of your product details, including names, descriptions, pricing, images, and links to the product pages on your website. You have two main options for creating and managing your catalog.

Option A: E-commerce Platform Integration (The Easy Way)

If you use a popular e-commerce platform like Shopify, BigCommerce, WooCommerce, or Squarespace, this is the most straightforward method. These platforms have direct integrations that automatically create and sync your product catalog with Facebook Commerce Manager.

For example, using Shopify:

1. From your Shopify admin panel, go to the App Store and add the Facebook & Instagram sales channel.
2. Follow the setup prompts to connect your Facebook account.
3. The integration will automatically sync all of your products from your Shopify store into a new catalog in Commerce Manager. Any changes you make to products in Shopify (like price updates or new photos) will automatically update on Instagram.

This "set it and forget it" approach saves you from having to manually update two different inventories.

Option B: Manual Setup with Commerce Manager

If you don't use a partner platform or have a smaller, more static inventory, you can build your catalog manually using Facebook Commerce Manager.

1. Go to Commerce Manager and click Add Catalog.
2. Select E-commerce and follow the creation wizard.
3. Once your catalog is created, you'll have several options to add products:
   • Add Manually: Fill out a form for each item with its details (best for 1-10 products).
   • Data Feed: Upload a spreadsheet (CSV, TSV, XML) with all of your product information formatted correctly. Commerce Manager provides templates to help you with this.
   • Facebook Pixel: Import and update items automatically from your website using a Pixel (this is a more advanced option).

The manual method requires more ongoing maintenance but gives you direct control over your catalog.

Step 4: Submit Your Account for Review

With your catalog ready, the next step is to officially sign up for Instagram Shopping and submit your account for review by Instagram's team. They'll verify that your account and products meet all the commerce policies.

1. In your Instagram professional account settings, go to Business Tools and Controls (or Creator Tools and Controls).
2. Tap on Set Up Instagram Shopping.
3. Follow the steps. You'll need to confirm your Facebook business account, select your product catalog, and verify your website domain.
4. Once you've provided all the information, submit your account for review.

The review process typically takes a few days. You can check the status at any time in your Instagram settings under 'Shopping'.

Step 5: Turn On Shopping Features

Once you receive the notification that your account has been approved, you're in! The final step is to switch on the shopping functionality in your settings.

1. Go back to your Settings and privacy.
2. Navigate to Business Tools and Controls > Shopping.
3. Select the product catalog you want to connect to your profile.
4. Tap Done.

Congratulations! The Shop tab should now appear on your profile, and you can start tagging products across your posts, Stories, and Reels.

Putting Your New Shop to Work: Best Practices for Sales

Setting up your store is just the beginning. The real success comes from integrating shopping into your everyday content strategy in an organic and helpful way.

Tag Products in Your Feed Posts

Make your lifestyle photos and product flatlays instantly shoppable. You can tag up to five products per single-image post or up to 20 products in a multi-image carousel post.

Pro Tip: Don't just post plain product shots on a white background. Show your products in context of how they are used. A fashion brand might post a full outfit and tag the sweater, jeans, and shoes. A home decor brand could post a styled living room and tag the throw pillows, lamp, and rug.

Use Shopping Stickers in Stories

Stories are an incredibly effective place for conversational selling. Use the "Shopping" sticker to tag a specific product when you're doing an unboxing, showing a tutorial, or answering a customer's question. The interactive nature of Stories inspires impulse buys.

Pro Tip: Combine the Shopping sticker with other interactive features like Polls or Quizzes. Ask your audience something like, "Which color do you like better?" and tag both products so they can quickly tap to shop their favorite.

Curate Smart Collections

Don't just leave your products in one giant, unorganized pile in your Shop tab. Use Commerce Manager to create "Collections" - curated groups of products for specific audiences or occasions. Good examples include:

• "Best Sellers"
• "New Arrivals"
• "Gift Guide for Plant Lovers"
• "Under $50 Favorites"

Collections make your shop feel less like a catalog and more like a thoughtfully curated boutique.

Tag Products in Your Reels

Video is a discovery engine. Now that you can tag products directly in Reels, you can create short-form videos that are both entertaining and drive sales. Think of mini-commercials, styling tutorials, problem/solution videos, or behind-the-scenes looks at how a product is made. Adding a product tag provides a seamless path to purchase right from the video that grabbed their attention.

Final Thoughts

Setting up Instagram Shopping turns your profile into a dynamic revenue driver, blurring the line between content and commerce. By creating a smooth path from discovery to checkout, you empower followers to act on inspiration the moment it strikes, generating sales directly from the platform where they already spend their time.

Once your shop is live, creating a consistent stream of shoppable content is the next big step. At Postbase, we built our visual planner and scheduler specifically to help creative brands and entrepreneurs map out their entire content calendar - including those shoppable Reels, Stories, and posts. Our goal is to handle the logistics of posting reliably across all your platforms so you can focus more on creating amazing products and less on the daily drag of social media management.