How to Make Instagram Shoppable

Turning your Instagram feed from a simple gallery into a direct revenue stream is one of the most powerful moves a brand can make today. This guide lays out exactly how to set up Instagram Shopping and transform your content into a checkout-ready storefront, getting you from setup to sales with clear, actionable steps.

What Exactly Is Instagram Shopping (And Why Should You Care)?

Instagram Shopping is a set of features that allows your audience to buy products directly from your photos, videos, and Stories. Instead of seeing a great product and having to navigate away to a link in your bio, they can tap a product tag to see its price and description, and then proceed directly to your website to purchase it. Some US-based businesses even have access to Instagram Checkout, letting customers buy without ever leaving the app.

The main benefit is closing the gap between discovery and purchase. You remove friction from the customer journey. When someone sees something they love in a beautifully crafted lifestyle photo or a trending Reel, their impulse to buy is at its peak. Instagram Shopping lets you capitalize on that impulse instantly. Here's why it's a game-changer:

• It streamlines the buying process. Fewer clicks mean a lower chance of potential customers getting distracted or abandoning their purchase. It's direct, simple, and effective.
• It integrates commerce into your content. Your marketing is no longer just about building brand awareness, every post becomes a potential sales opportunity. Your content works harder for you.
• It meets customers where they are. Millions of people use Instagram specifically to find new brands and products. By making your feed shoppable, you allow them to engage with your products in a native, intuitive way.

The All-Important Prerequisite: Are You Even Eligible?

Before you get started, Meta has a few boxes you need to tick. Running through this checklist first will save you a lot of headache down the road. You can move forward if you meet these requirements:

• You Must Be in a Supported Country: Instagram Shopping is widely available, but not everywhere. Check Meta’s official list of supported markets to confirm your country is included.
• You Sell Physical Goods: Currently, Instagram Shopping is designed for e-commerce brands selling physical products. Services, digital downloads, and subscriptions are generally not supported.
• You Adhere to Commerce Policies: Your products must comply with Meta's Commerce Policies. This means no selling prohibited items like weapons, alcohol, or adult products, among others.
• You Have a Business or Creator Account: Personal Instagram accounts don't have access to these commerce features. You'll need to switch to a free Business or Creator profile. (We'll cover how below).
• You're Connected to a Facebook Page: Your Instagram account must be linked to a Facebook Page. Instagram pulls product data from Facebook, so this connection is non-negotiable.
• You Have a Verified Website Domain: You need your own e-commerce website where customers can complete their purchases. Instagram is a storefront, but your website is the cash register.

Step-by-Step Guide: Setting Up Your Instagram Shop

Once you’ve confirmed you're eligible, it’s time to get a little technical. Follow these steps methodically, and you’ll have your shop up and running in no time.

Step 1: Convert to a Business or Creator Account

If you're still using a personal profile, switching is your first step. It’s free and gives you access to shopping features, analytics, and advertising tools.

Go to your Instagram profile, tap the hamburger menu in the top right, and go to "Settings and privacy." Scroll down to "Account type and tools" and select "Switch to professional account." Follow the prompts to categorize your business and complete the setup.

Step 2: Connect Your Facebook Page

If you didn't connect a Facebook Page during the professional account setup, you can do it now. In your Instagram settings, navigate to the "Accounts Center." From there, you can add your Facebook account and link your Instagram profile to the correct Facebook Page for your business. Both profiles need to be in the same Accounts Center for the shop to function properly.

Step 3: Create a Product Catalog

Your product catalog is the foundation of your Instagram Shop. It’s the backend inventory of all the items you want to sell. This is managed through Meta’s Commerce Manager. You have two main ways to create and manage it:

Option A: Sync with an E-commerce Platform (Recommended)

If you use an e-commerce platform like Shopify, BigCommerce, WooCommerce, or Adobe Commerce, this is by far the easiest method. These platforms have direct integrations with Meta Commerce Manager that automatically create and sync your product catalog. When you add a new product, change a price, or run out of stock on your website, your Instagram Shop updates automatically.

To do this, find the Facebook or Instagram integration within your e-commerce platform's app store or settings panel. Follow the instructions to connect your account, and it will handle the heavy lifting of building and maintaining your catalog.

Option B: Create Your Catalog Manually

If you only have a few products or don’t use a supported platform, you can add products manually in Commerce Manager. You’ll need to upload all the necessary product details for each item, including:

• Product title
• High-quality images (at least 500x500 pixels)
• A detailed product description
• Price
• A direct link to the product page on your website
• Inventory status

While totally workable for small inventories, this method requires you to update everything by hand whenever there are changes.

Step 4: Submit Your Account for Review

With your catalog set up and connected, it’s time to ask Instagram for approval. Go to your Instagram profile's "Professional dashboard," and look for the option to "Set up Instagram Shopping." Follow the prompts, select your product catalog, and submit your account for review.

The review process can take anywhere from a few hours to a couple of weeks. Instagram is verifying that your business and products comply with all their policies. You’ll receive a notification on Instagram once your account is approved.

Step 5: Turn On Shopping Features

Congratulations, you’re approved! The final step is to flip the switch. Go back to your "Settings and privacy," find the "Business" or "Creator" section, and tap on "Shopping." From here, you can select the product catalog you want to connect to your profile. This will add the "View Shop" button to your Instagram profile and unlock the ability to tag products in your content.

Beyond Setup: Best Practices for Making Your Content Shoppable

Getting set up is half the battle, the other half is integrating shoppable tags into your content in a way that feels organic and inviting. Here's how to do it well.

Shoppable Feed Posts

When you create a new feed post (photo or carousel), you'll now see an option to "Tag products." You can tap on the image where your product appears and search your catalog to tag the relevant item. You can tag up to five products per single image post and up to twenty for a carousel post.

Pro Tip: Use lifestyle imagery that shows your product in use. A sweater looks much more appealing on a person enjoying their coffee than on a sterile white background. Tag the product naturally in the photo, and mention in your caption that followers can "tap to shop."

Shoppable Reels and Videos

Video is a huge driver of product discovery. You can tag products in Reels and in-feed videos, turning demonstrations, tutorials, or behind-the-scenes content into instant shopping moments. When creating a Reel, look for the "Tag products" option before you share it. A "View products" banner will appear at the bottom of the video, which users can tap to see the tagged items.

Pro Tip: Create a Reel showing "3 ways to style our classic t-shirt" and tag the t-shirt along with any other featured products (like jeans or a handbag). This provides value while also making the purchase effortless.

Shoppable Stories

Use the "Product" sticker in your Instagram Stories to make them shoppable. You can customize the sticker's color and text to match your brand's aesthetic. Stories are perfect for creating a sense of urgency, making them ideal for announcing flash sales, new arrivals, or limited stock alerts. The ephemeral nature of Stories prompts immediate action.

Product Collections

Within your Instagram Shop, you can organize your products into curated "Collections." Think of these as themed landing pages. You could create collections for "Summer Essentials," "Bestsellers," or "Gifts Under $100." This helps guide your customers and makes the shopping experience feel more organized and less overwhelming.

Live Shopping Features

If you feel comfortable on camera, Instagram Live Shopping is an incredibly engaging format. Before going live, you can pin products from your catalog to the broadcast. During the stream, these products will appear at the bottom of the screen, and you can highlight them as you talk about them. This creates a powerful live Q&A and shopping experience all in one.

Final Thoughts

Setting up Instagram Shopping turns your profile into a powerful engine for social commerce. By making the path from inspiration to checkout as short as possible, you’re not just posting content - you're strategically guiding your followers toward becoming loyal customers, one tap at a time.

With shoppable content, building a consistent plan is vital for keeping your audience engaged and driving sales. At Postbase, we wanted to make that process easier. Our visual calendar lets you plan and schedule all your content - from shoppable feed posts to Reels and Stories - across all your accounts in one clean view. This way, you can build out an entire campaign of shoppable content ahead of time, ensuring your shop is always active with fresh posts, even on your busiest days.