Why You Should Set Up "Shop" On Instagram ASAP

While Instagram Shopping has been around for a while (originally announced in 2017), Facebook recently announced some new features that have every e-commerce shop owner scrambling to ensure their shop is “up to par” once the features fully roll out.

Today we’re diving into 3 features of the new shop that will make your customer’s life so much easier, and their overall buying experience top notch (which will keep them coming back for more). We’ll also walk through how to ensure your Instagram and Facebook Shops are ready for the rollout whenever it hits your inbox.

Facebook sends you an email once the new features are available for your shop.

Feature #1: Customizable Collection for Featured Products

If you want to promote a specific collection (think “Holiday” because it’s right around the corner), you’ll be able to feature those exact products in a way that show up at the top of your Instagram Shop page. A few examples that come to mind are: Ugly Sweaters, Holiday Candles, Matching Family PJs.

Feature #2: Seamless Shopping Across Facebook & Instagram

Fact: The less clicks your customer has to make to buy a product from you, the better. As consumers we’re a little impatient. If something takes too long, or we have to jump through too many “hoops” to get something, there’s a good chance we’ll exit out and move on. Keep this in mind. With the new Shop, your customers can look forward to a smooth transaction.

Feature #3: Design Features Tailored To Your Brand

Prior to this release, e-commerce brands had little control over the look and feel of their Instagram Shop. With this new feature you’ll be able to use full-screen photos and simple creative tools to continue the brand look and feel across all your channels (Facebook, Instagram, Website).

Now that we’ve covered the new features, let’s make sure your shop is ready to receive THE email…

Step One: Go over this checklist to ensure the following are complete.

✔️ Is your business located in a supported market?
✔️ Is your Instagram account connected to your Facebook Page?
✔️ Do your products comply with Instagram’s Policies?

Step Two: Choose how you will create a catalog.

If you’re using an e-commerce platform like Shopify or BigCommerce (which we highly recommend doing), you can easily sync your products to Facebook and Instagram by using their catalog features. You can also choose to manually upload your products through Facebook’s Catalog Manager.

Step Three: Set up Instagram Shopping in the app.

Once you’ve completed all these steps, and you have your products ready to sell, login to your Instagram app. You do this by selecting Settings > Business > Instagram Shopping. You’ll be prompted to complete a few steps and then your account will go into “review”. Normally this only takes a few days, but it could take longer. After your account is approved you’ll receive a notification from Instagram, and then you can start selling!

Pro Tip: Get this completed in advance BEFORE you launch your store.

Now you’re free to add product tags to your Instagram posts and stories! To add product tags, simply select a photo or video as normal and tap on the product in the photo you’d like to add the tag too. You’ll be prompted with a list of products available in your shop.

Side Note: Most e-commerce sites give you the option to “hide” products from certain platforms so make sure to double check where your products are visible.