How to Create a Store on Instagram

Turning your Instagram profile into a shoppable storefront is one of the most powerful moves you can make for your brand. It closes the gap between discovery and purchase, allowing users to go from "I love that!" to "I bought that!" without ever leaving the app. This guide will walk you through every step of the process, from checking if your account is eligible to tagging your first product and promoting your new online store.

First Things First: Are You Eligible for Instagram Shopping?

Before you get started, it's important to make sure your business and account meet Meta's requirements for setting up an Instagram Shop. This initial check saves a lot of time and potential headaches down the line. To be eligible, you need to tick a few boxes.

Core Eligibility Requirements:

• Your Business is in a Supported Market: Instagram Shopping is widely available, but not everywhere. You must be located in one of Meta's supported countries.
• You Sell Eligible Products: You must primarily sell physical goods. There are some restrictions on services, digital products, and certain categories like alcohol, weapons, or supplements. Your products must comply with Meta's Commerce Policies.
• You Have a Professional Account: Your Instagram profile must be set up as a Business or Creator account. This gives you access to the professional dashboard and commerce features.
• You're Connected to a Facebook Page: Your Instagram professional account needs to be connected to a corresponding Facebook Business Page. Don't worry if you don't have one - it's easy to create during the setup process.
• You Own Your Website Domain: You'll need to sell your products from your own website. You can't use marketplaces like Etsy or Amazon as your primary storefront for an Instagram Shop.

Meta also looks for signals that your account is trustworthy, such as having an established presence and an authentic, engaged following. If you meet all these criteria, you're ready to start building your shop.

The 5-Step Guide to Setting Up Your Instagram Store

Setting up your shop involves a few platforms within the Meta ecosystem, but the process is straightforward when you handle it one step at a time. Follow this guide to go from a standard profile to a fully functional e-commerce channel.

Step 1: Convert to a Business or Creator Account

If you haven't already, your first move is to switch your personal profile to a professional one. This unlocks critical tools like Instagram Shopping, analytics, and advertising capabilities.

How to do it:

1. Go to your Instagram profile and tap the menu icon (☰) in the top-right corner.
2. Select Settings and privacy.
3. Scroll down to For professionals and tap Account type and tools.
4. Tap Switch to professional account and follow the on-screen prompts. You'll choose a category that best describes your business (e.g., Clothing Brand, Health/Beauty, Artist) and select whether you are a 'Business' or 'Creator.' For most brands selling products, 'Business' is the right choice.

Step 2: Connect Your Facebook Page

Your Instagram Shop is managed through Meta's broader commerce infrastructure, which is why a connection to a Facebook Page is non-negotiable. If you run ads or have a presence on Facebook, you likely already have a page.

How to do it:

1. From your Instagram profile, tap Edit Profile.
2. Under Public business information, tap on Page.
3. You can either Connect an existing Page or Create a new Facebook Page.
4. Follow the prompts to log in to Facebook and select the correct Page. Once linked, the Page name will appear in your profile settings.

Step 3: Set Up a Catalog with Commerce Manager

Your product catalog is the foundation of your Instagram Shop. It’s a master file that holds all the information about your products, including names, images, descriptions, prices, variants (like sizes and colors), and inventory levels. You’ll create and manage this through Meta's Commerce Manager.

When setting up, you'll be asked how you want to add your products. You have two main options:

Option A: Connect a Partner E-commerce Platform (Recommended)

This is the best method for most businesses. By connecting to an e-commerce platform like Shopify, BigCommerce, WooCommerce, or Magento, your inventory will automatically sync. When a product sells out on your website, it becomes unavailable on Instagram, preventing you from selling items you don't have. The integration is seamless and handles all the heavy lifting.

In Commerce Manager, you will be prompted to choose a partner platform and follow the steps provided by that platform to sync your product catalog.

Option B: Manually Add Products

If you have a very small inventory (less than 20 items) and don't use a supported e-commerce platform, you can add products one by one directly in Commerce Manager. This can be time-consuming and requires you to manually update availability, but it's a viable option for small-scale sellers.

To do this, you’ll choose the Manual upload option in Commerce Manager and fill in all the product details for each item: images, title, description, website link, price, and so on.

Step 4: Submit Your Account for Review

With your professional account ready, your Facebook Page connected, and your catalog loaded, it’s time to submit your shop for approval. Meta's team will review your account to make sure it complies with their policies.

How to do it:

1. Go to your Instagram professional dashboard by tapping the button at the top of your profile.
2. Look for a prompt to Set Up Instagram Shopping. (You can also find this in Settings and privacy >, Business tools and controls >, Set an Instagram Shop).
3. Follow the on-screen steps. You’ll confirm your business details, select your product catalog, and define your shipping options.
4. Once you've configured everything, submit your account for review.

The review process typically takes a few business days, but can sometimes be quicker. You'll receive a notification on Instagram once your account has been approved.

Step 5: Turn on Shopping and Start Tagging!

Congratulations, you're approved! Now you can activate the shopping features and transform your content into a virtual storefront.

How to activate:

1. Go back to Settings and privacy >, Business tools and controls.
2. Tap on Shopping.
3. Select the product catalog you want to connect to your account.
4. Tap Done.

Now, whenever you create content, you’ll see new options to tag your products:

• Feed Posts: When creating a new post, you’ll see an option for Tag Products alongside Tag People. Simply tap on the photo, search for the product from your catalog, and place the tag where you want it. You can tag up to five products per single image or video post, and up to 20 products in a multi-image carousel post.
• Stories: Use the "Product" sticker from the sticker tray. You can search for a specific item from your catalog, and customize the sticker's color and text. Viewers can tap the sticker to see the product details.
• Reels: As you're preparing a Reel, tap Next to get to the share screen. You’ll see an option for Tag Products. Select the products you want to feature, and a "View products" button will appear at the bottom of your Reel.

Best Practices for a High-Converting Instagram Store

Having a shop is just the beginning. To drive sales, you need to create a shopping experience that excites your audience and makes them want to buy.

Create High-Quality, Authentic Visuals

Instagram is a visual platform, so your product photography and videography need to shine. Go beyond simple, sterile product-on-white-background shots. Showcase your items in real-world settings (lifestyle shots) and encourage customers to share their own photos (user-generated content). Video content, especially Reels showing your product in action, is incredibly effective at grabbing attention and demonstrating value.

Write Captions That Sell

Don't just describe the product, describe the experience or the solution it provides. Tell a story. Share the benefits. And always include a clear call-to-action, like "Tap the link in bio to shop the full collection!" or "Tap the product tag to make it yours." Asking questions and encouraging engagement in the comments can also boost your post's visibility.

Curate Product Collections

Use the 'Collections' feature in Commerce Manager to group your products into themed categories. Think "New Arrivals," "Summer Lookbook," "Gifts Under $50," or "Best Sellers." This helps users browse your shop more easily and discover related products, just like they would in a physical store.

Promote Your Shop Consistently

Announce your new shop to your followers! Make it a regular habit to use product tags in your content. Create Reels that creatively feature your products. Run a Live Shopping session to demonstrate items and answer questions in real time. For even greater reach, you can run ads with product tags, which allows you to target users who are most likely to be interested in what you sell.

Final Thoughts

Setting up an Instagram Shop bridges the critical gap between social media inspiration and e-commerce sales. By creating a seamless path from a photo, Story, or Reel directly to your product page, you make it incredibly easy for followers to become customers right at their moment of peak interest.

Once your shop is live, consistently creating great promotional content becomes the key to driving revenue. We know firsthand how juggling Reels, shoppable posts, and user-generated content can feel chaotic, especially when you’re also trying to manage a business. That's why we built Postbase, a social media management tool designed for modern, video-first marketing. Our visual calendar makes it simple to plan your launch campaigns and weekly content, and our reliable scheduler lets you publish every post - especially the video content that drives sales - without the glitches of older, clunkier platforms.

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