"As per a survey conducted by Meta, around 80% of the users check Instagram to decide which all products or services to purchase on."

Imagine the gigantic power of this social media platform!!!

Instagram plays a massive role in influencing the buying decisions of people. 
And therefore, eCommerce businesses should consider Instagram shopping a priority.

5 step for lunch your Instagram shop

1. Why consider Instagram for your eCommerce business?

• Brand awareness and credibility

When people see a brand's presence on any social media platform, they are more driven to trust you. People also discover new products to shop for by using Instagram’s search engine, thereby making it a way to build brand awareness.

“For Ecommerce, the most, important thing is Trust”

Alibaba’s founder Jack Ma

So, E-commerce brands! 
Do not forget to use this trust-building platform to sell your products.

• Higher engagements

Engagement is the key to building relationships with your customers. And this engagement drives interest to further buy your product.

As per Brand Watch, the engagement on Instagram is 
~ 10x better when compared to Facebook,
~ 54x better when compared to Pinterest,
~ 84x better when compared to Twitter. 

Higher the engagements, the greater the chances to sell upon

• A set of stunning Instagram marketing tools

Instagram provides a bunch of tools that make your marketing process easier.

Instagram Shop

Instagram shopping is a collection of features that enable eCommerce brands to build a digital catalogue, more as an immersive storefront to display their products and that too right from their Instagram profile.

~ Instagram shop- a digital storefront, which acts as a landing page.
~ Product details page- showcases all product-related information such as size, shape and prices.
~ Shopping Tag- used to tag the products from your store in your stories, reels or Instagram posts. 
~ Shop discovery tab- any non-followers can find your product with the help of this shop discovery tab.

Isn’t that so fascinating?

So, brands!
Please make sure to use this amazing feature.

2. Setting the Groundwork; checking the Eligibility criteria for your brand

To confirm your eligibility, a brand needs to get a tick in the listed characteristics mentioned below:

• You operate from the supported markets where this feature has been functional.
• Your product is on the list of Instagram’s eligible products.
• Your eCommerce brand complies with IG’s Commerce policies.
• Your business should also comply with the Merchant Agreement.
• You have your eCommerce website.

So, Brands!
All set for eCommerce success ???????

3. Steps to launch your Instagram Shop

1. Check whether your Instagram account is Creator/Business

To kickstart your Instagram shop, firstly make sure that you have a Business Account. The Instagram shop cannot get established under the Creator account. 

Once you have selected a business account, fill in all the required details about your eCommerce business such as contact number, associated social media channels, opening and closing hours, website link and so on.

2. It’s time to link your Facebook page to this Instagram account

To link your Instagram account to a Facebook page, follow these steps:

• First, visit your Instagram profile.
• Then, select the option ‘Edit Profile.
• Select ‘Page’, which will be beneath the ‘Public Business   Information’ part.
• Click on the Facebook page now
• If you do not have a FB page, click on the ‘ create a new FB page’ option.

3. Link your Product Catalogue now

In this step which involves uploading your product catalogue, you have two options to do so….

~  Manually put across products into the Facebook Business Manager
~  Integrate your Instagram account with a verified eCommerce platform.

Let's go step-by-step in each category:

Option One: Catalogue from Facebook Business Manager

• Log in to your FB business account.
• Once you have logged in, click on ‘Commerce Manager’.
• Select the ‘Get Started’ option and then click on ‘Create a Catalogue’. Choose ‘Ecommerce’ and select ‘Next’. Manually add items by selecting ‘Items’ > ‘Add Items’.
• You will be required to Name your product catalogue and select ‘Create’.  Fill in the necessary information about the products like name, and a bit description such as size, shape, and prices under the ‘Upload Product Info’ option. Add a product image of a minimum of 500x500 pixels by clicking on ‘Upload Product Image’
• Link this to your Instagram account.

• You can go through this official guide by Meta for more details.

Option Two: Uploading Catalogue via an eCommerce platform

• In the Commerce manager, select ‘Create a Catalogue’ and then hit on ‘E-commerce’.   
• You will see several options on the screen. Click on ‘Connect A Partner Platform.’
• Choose one from the listed partner platform drop-down list.

4. Link your Product Catalogue now

• Click on ‘Settings’ which will be on the Menu Icon of your Instagram Shop profile.
• The next step is to sign up for shopping.
• To check your status, visit ‘Shopping’.

Usually, Account evaluations take a couple of days. Till then just wait and watch.

5. Turn ON your Instagram Shopping featurealogue now

Once your account is approved, switch on the Shopping feature on the Instagram.

→ Click on Shopping→ Business→ Product Catalogue

Congratulations !! 
You now possess an Instagram Shop.

4. Tips to Boost Sales via Your Instagram Shop

• Start tagging your products in Instagram posts.

As you now own an Instagram shop, ensure that you make complete use of its incredible features like Product tags. The process is similar to how we used to tag people. The only difference this time is the products. Once you tag your post or story, you will see a Shopping Bag icon and Shopping tag on your featured posts.

For instance, here’s an example from the brand…..

• Don’t forget to use Product Stickers in your Instagram stories.

You cannot put product tags on IG stories. Oops! How shall you tag your product then, while featuring stores? Here’s where Product Stickers come into the picture.

There are 4 different sticker styles:
~ a sticker with the product name in grey
~ a sticker with the product name in rainbow
~ a sticker with translucent text
~ a sticker containing a shopping bag icon

One important thing to note here is that you just cannot edit stories that have been posted. While posting them, if you forget to put stickers, you will have to delete them and redo them again. Unlike posts, where you can simply add tags by editing them.

• Boost views on Instagram posts by running Instagram shopping ads.

If you want to scale your shopping strategy, start running Instagram shopping ads. Ads with product tags will help you to multiply your reach of products.

Wrapping Up!!!!

Jay Baer, host of the Popular podcast Social Pros and Founder of Convince and Convert rightly says,

“Social media creates kinship between companies and customers, and kinship equals purchase intent.”  

And Instagram being one of the most popular social media platforms, acts as a stimulant to build customer relationships with brands by fostering customer engagements.

And yes, the process to build an Instagram shop takes time, but it is worth investing in.

Follow this guide and get ready to launch your Instagram shop now!!!!

FAQ