How To Set Up a Shop on Instagram

With well over a billion users and hundreds of millions people a month clicking to find out more about products, Instagram is the place to showcase your products and services. Not only can you drive more traffic and reach more people, but Instagram’s checkout feature allows you to increase your sales, with Instagram users no longer needing to leave the app to complete their purchases. Instagram policies won't allow any xxx item to be sold, of course, but you might just might have items for sale that fit in.

How it works for buyers

When you tap to view a product from a brand’s shopping post, you’ll see a 'Checkout on Instagram' button on the product page. Tap it to select from various options such as size or colour, then you’ll proceed to payment without leaving Instagram. You’ll only need to enter your name, email, billing information and shipping address the first time you check out.

Once your first order is complete, your information will be securely saved for convenience the next time you shop. You’ll also receive notifications about shipment and delivery right inside Instagram, so you can keep track of your purchase -making it dangerously easy to shop on the platform!

How it works for sellers

Setting up an Instagram shop means that you can integrate your catalogue of products with your Instagram account. Once set up, you can then begin promoting your products directly on the social media platform to other users. As well as using posts and stories to create sales, you will also have a Shop tab on your profile. The key benefit of this is that people can shop directly without ever having to leave the Instagram platform. This is a must in this day and age where people are using their mobile phones more and more to shop, and there's also the trust factor of not having to leave to go to an external website.

What is important, (and this really applies to everything you post on Instagram), is to have high quality images in the best resolution possible, optimised for Instagram. Keep text on the images to the minimum, but still be specific and clear with what text you do use. You may want to consider getting your images professionally produced for your product catalogue and ensure they are in line with your business’s colour branding to give the best overall impact.

There you have it! No point in delaying. Set up your shop on Instagram and start promoting it – you’ll make it easier for peeps to buy your products and therefore drive your sales. And if you need help with illustrations, social media promotion, writing - you name it, Freelancers.xxx have got you covered!