How to Set Up an Instagram Shop: Everything You Need to Know in 2025

The days when social media was a medium of communication between friends are long gone. People are now literally living within social platforms.

From communication to shopping, social media dominates every aspect of our lives. 

Talking about business, each platform offers unique opportunities to market products, but none shine as bright as Instagram when it comes to visual marketing appeal.

In a single scroll, you’ll see brands showcasing their product in engaging reels, creating shoppable posts or stories. Knowingly or unknowingly, we are watching them, thinking about buying them, and most importantly, learning about the brand.

The natural aesthetic ambient of this platform, along with continuous creative updates, has made Instagram a paradise for businesses.

Among all the facilities it provides for business, Instagram Shop has taken retail marketing to the state of the art. If you are thinking of setting up one for your brand, we hear you.

In this article, we will guide you through the step-by-step process of how to set up an Instagram Shop and describe all associated information.

So, without any further ado, let’s start our journey.

What is an Instagram Shop

Instagram Shop is a feature available on mobile apps where businesses can use their profiles as a shoppable storefront for their Ecommerce website. It’s like renting a place on Instagram to sell your products, but for free.

If you set up a shop on Instagram, a dedicated Shop button will be created on your profile. Inside the IG store, you can create customized product categories, fill in product details, and add buttons that will take users to your website.

Let’s go through the list of features that Instagram Shop provides for businesses:

• Product Tags: Instagram Shop will let you add tags to your products in your Posts, Stories, Reels, and Live videos. It’s like telling your audience: “Hey, you can buy this product from me, and it’s available”. Whenever someone clicks on it, your shop will appear.

• Shop Tab: When you complete setting up your Instagram store, a Shop button will be added to your profile. It will connect your Instagram storefront to your profile, and users can explore all the products from there.

• In-app Checkout: In some selected regions, users can pay and buy products directly from the Instagram Shop. A simple and convenient feature for the buyers.

• Shopping Insights: The Instagram Shop comes with a detailed analytical feature. You can track impressions, clicks, and other important metrics to understand your user behaviour better.

• Instagram Storefront: Brands can create a highly visually appealing and professional-looking storefront. Moreover, product displays can be customized based on category, theme, or season.

• AR Try-ons: Virtual try-ons will let your customers visualize any product before purchasing. This Instagram shopping feature can be quite impactful for products like makeup, ornaments, or accessories.

• Shopping Ads: Instagram Shopping Ads is another handy feature that lets brands promote their products to a broader audience. Ads will display products in the Feeds, Stories, Reels, or Explore tab of the target audience.

• Saved Products: The IG store allows users to save products. Users who save products are often likely to become recurring customers.

• Shoppable Guides: You can create customized shoppable guides to showcase multiple products from your catalog in a single post. They will later be shown in carousel-like formats.

• Multi-Channel Integration: The Instagram Shop can easily be connected with the Facebook Shop, and you can manage your products from a single dashboard.

• Product Drops: Another amazing facility is Product Drops, or Drops. This Instagram Shop feature lets businesses promote their upcoming products and allows users to browse and set reminders for when new products will become available.

• Instagram Shopping Badge: This badge will allow you to mark products that can be directly bought from the app with a badge. It can appear on Feeds, Stories, Reels, or Live Videos.

Instagram Shop is a powerful Ecommerce tool. What sets Instagram shopping apart from traditional e-commerce platforms is its high visual appeal and interactive nature. If combined with a tactical product listing, Instagram Shop can become the ace player in your Ecommerce marketing strategy.

Why should you set up an Instagram Shop?

The first and most basic reason why you should set up an Instagram Shop is to increase your Ecommerce sales and make more profits for your business.

Social commerce has been speeding up and has become the new normal. It was pretty obvious, considering how much people are invested in social media.

Instagram Ecommerce has always been the frontier of this revolution, evolving gracefully for both users and businesses. In 2025, Instagram retail marketing will no longer be just a part of your sales strategy list; it will be a must.

In this section, we will cover all the benefits of setting up an Instagram shop. Stay with us.

1. Direct access to the huge audience interested in Instagram shopping

As we have mentioned earlier, Instagram has a huge audience, and 62.3% of them use Instagram shopping features to connect with brands, according to the DataReportal research.

Setting up an Instagram Shop will allow you to present your brand and products to such a large audience. 

No matter how big or small your business is, a larger audience means more views to your Instagram profile and provides more opportunities for profit.

If you are a small business owner struggling with sales, follow these Instagram marketplace strategies.

2. Make a compelling online store with minimum technical knowledge

There is no doubt that the benefits of having an Ecommerce website as your online store are beyond measure. From flexibility to advanced strategies, anything is possible with websites. However, you will need certain technical knowledge or a team to maintain a website.

If you are wondering how to set up an Instagram Shop without a website by now, we have good news. Instagram shop feature will allow you to set up an online store without a website.

Though you will miss some important facilities like product description or inventory management, you can get started right away with your Instagram Shop.

3. Keep the buyer journey easy, simple, and convenient

What makes Instagram storefront a strong selling machine is its simplicity. Users are already familiar with the platform, and shopping directly from here is undoubtedly a great convenience.

When a user can research your brand, learn product details, see product listings, and complete their purchase all from leaving the app, they will definitely remember you and likely make their purchase decision. Convenient, right?

And convenience is one of the strongest touchpoints of Instagram selling.

Pro Tips: If you have recently started social selling, follow these Instagram marketing strategies to grow your sales fast.

4. Improve brand visibility and product discovery

Seeing is believing. That’s true but in social selling, there’s a huge problem– distractions. Millions of posts are being published and thousands of businesses are flooding the feeds every minute.

That makes it difficult to stand out, and your prospects can easily get swayed by the competitors. 

However, the Instagram shop allows you to showcase your products on Feeds, Stories, or Reels with a shopping tab. 

It is quite tough for your prospects to ignore you while you are everywhere, and whenever someone clicks on the tag, they are in your Instagram Shop.

Now, they are free from distractions as long as they are inside your Instagram Shop and exploring all the amazing products. This is a major win for you.

5. Create a deep bond with customers and meet their expectations

Instagram Shop features are designed to be interactive and match the natural glamour of the platform.

Sometimes, websites that are too neat and shiny might feel intimidating. Worries like whether I will find anything within my budget bug customers, and they often pull themselves away.

However, within the comfort of Instagram, users will naturally feel more connected and comfortable with your brand. Features like virtual try-ons sets a realistics expectations about your brand and Product Drops keep the excitement alive giving your brand a human touch.

Pro Tips: A stitch in time saves nine! Discover the best time to post on Instagram and ensure maximum engagement with your audience.

6. Reduce expenditure and maintenance costs with Instagram selling

You’ll face minimum financial barriers when selling on Instagram. It costs absolutely nothing to open an Instagram Shop, making it a perfect choice for small businesses.

There are no monthly subscription fees, no hosting fees, and no need to hire expensive designers or developers. You can access pre-built templates, which will allow you to add items to your Instagram shop professionally.

Sometimes, you’ll need to pay a transaction fee, even though it’s so little. All Instagram selling requires is your goodwill.

What are the Instagram Shop requirements?

Before you can open an Instagram Shop, you’ll need to meet some requirements. But no worries! They are all just basic pre-requirements and quite easy to maintain.

Here’s everything you need to know about the Instagram Shop requirements in 2025:

• Account Type: You must have a business or a creator account to set up an Instagram Shop. Personal accounts do not have access to the Instagram shopping feature, so if you have a personal account, you must convert it before the Instagram store is set up.

• Policy Compliance: Your business must comply with Instagram’s Commerce Policies. For example, you cannot sell items like tobacco or weapons. So, make sure to read all the policies carefully before you open your Instagram Shop.

• Facebook Business Page: You should have a dedicated Facebook business page that is connected to your Instagram account. It’s not mandatory now, but having one will make things flow smoothly.

These are the basic Instagram Shop requirements applicable to all businesses. Though Instagram Shop is available in most regions, it will not hurt to check whether it is available in your country or not.

One more thing, it’s not mandatory to have an Ecommerce website for setting up an Instagram Shop, as we mentioned earlier. However, we strongly recommend building a website for your business.

We understand that building a website is not easy, but you can follow our guide to build a website free of cost to get started. A website might seem like a lot right now, but starting something new is the hardest part. It gets easier with time.

Step-by-step guide to set up an Instagram Shop

Welcome to the section you’ve long been waiting for. Hopefully, you have met all the requirements we’ve mentioned in the previous section. Actually, opening an Instagram Shop is pretty easy.

We will show you how to set up an Instagram shop in this section. Let’s start

Step 1: Start setting up your Instagram Shop with Meta Commerce Manager

Make sure that you are logged in to your Facebook business page and Instagram business or creator account. Then, go to the Meta Commerce Manager to set up your Instagram Shop and click on the Add products button.

Step 2: Choose your preferred business type

After that, you will find several options: Online products, Local products or services, Travel, Real estate, and Auto. Remember that you can choose only one option. After selecting the best option for your business, you’ll be ready to upload your product catalog.

Step 3: Add products to the Instagram catalog

You’ll find two options for adding products to your Instagram Shop:

1. Upload product info: Manually upload your products
2. Connect e-commerce platform: Import product information from your e-commerce store

Now, let’s learn how to add the catalog to Instagram using both methods.

Option 1: Upload product info

1. Create a business ID providing your business name, your name, and the business email address

2. Create a catalogue for your products

3. Click on the catalogue you created

4. Click Add products

5. Choose Data feed

6. Now, you can upload a CSV, TSV, XML (RSS/ATOM), or XLSX file up to 100 MB containing product details

7. Then, select a currency and click Upload

Option 2: Connect e-commerce platform

1. Click on the Connect e-commerce platform option.

2. Select your platform of choice: Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, ChannelAdvisor, GoDataFeed, Productsup, Feedonomics, CedCommerce, adMixt, DataCaciques, Quipt, Zentail, Magento, or OpenCart.

3. Follow the link to the partner platform website and follow the steps there to connect your account with the Facebook business page.

Step 4: Submit your account for review

After completing all these steps, your Instagram business account will undergo a review process. This might take 4-5 days. After the review is complete, you can enable shopping on Instagram, and your IG store will be ready to go.

How to connect your Instagram shoppable feed with your website

If your business website is made with WordPress, you can avoid all the steps we’ve mentioned above and make your Instagram feed shoppable directly from your website.

All you will need is an Instagram plugin like WP Social Ninja that provides a shoppable feature. There are plenty of other Instagram plugins in the WordPress directory.

However, we’ve chosen to go with WP Social Ninja for several reasons for creating a shoppable feed.

First of all, WP Social Ninja is packed with features like integrating social feeds, business reviews, chat widgets, notification popups, and custom testimonials.

Despite being loaded with 30+ platforms and 5+ features, WP Social Ninja is extremely lightweight and SEO-friendly. This plugin will never slow down your website, and its image optimization features will allow your pages to load at lightning-fast speed.

Here are the most fascinating Instagram feed features of WP Social Ninja to look out for:

• Add multiple user accounts
• Connect accounts manually without a password
• Show/hide videos with specific keywords/hashtags
• A new 4:5 aspect ratio supported for image
• Show likes, comments, and trim words
• Build your custom hashtag feeds
• Choose from multiple templates
• Live preview feature
• Add pagination and Follow button
• Custom header and follow button
• GDPR Compliance and image optimization feature
• Advanced styling options
• 24/7 responsive support for free and pro users

Okay, you’ve got our point. Now, we will show you how to make an Instagram shoppable feed with WP Social Ninja.

1. Install and activate WP Social Ninja to embed Instagram videos

The first step is the installation of WP Social Ninja. The process is simple and the same as Installing a WordPress plugin. You can do that in two ways:

• From your Dashboard
• From the WordPress Repository

Here’s how to install it from your Dashboard:

• Navigate to the WordPress Admin panel. From the WordPress Dashboard, go to Plugins > Add New
• Next, on the search input field, type WP Social Ninja and wait for a moment for it to come up
• Now click on the Install Now button
• Then Activate

If you decide to install from the WordPress Repository:

• Search WP Social Ninja in the WordPress Repository, and it will appear on the top. Once you click it, hit the Download button
• Now go to the Dashboard and go to Plugins > Add New > Upload Plugin > Choose the zip file
• After that, click the Install Now button and then Activate

2. Connect your Instagram account with WP Social Ninja

With this plugin, you have three options to connect:

• Business Basic Account
• Business Advanced Account
• Manually Connect an Account

As you’ve already got a business account and a connected Facebook business page, we will show you the configuration process of the Business Advanced Account.

Here’s how to connect Business Advanced Account with WP Social Ninja:

1. Select the Connect Your Business Advanced Account option

2. Once you select the Business Account, click on the Continue with Facebook button.

3. Next, click on the Continue as (Your Account Name) button to connect the business account.

4. We recommend the Select All option during this stage. You’ll have the opportunity to designate a particular account in the final step.

5. Select your Instagram Business account and click the Next button to continue.

6. Here, select the page you would like to use with WP Social Ninja.

7. Keep all permissions as they are (these are required for WP Social Ninja to work) and click on Done.

8. You have linked with WP Social Ninja! Click OK to go further. Now, in this stage, select All Accounts or the specific ones and click on the Connect Accounts button.

9. If you want to add more accounts, click on the Add More Account button.

10. If you have already authorized your business account and you want to connect to another account without going through the authorization process, click on the View Accounts button and connect your account.

3. Enable the Shoppable Feed feature

After successfully connecting your Instagram business account, it’s time to make an Instagram shoppable feed.

Select the Add New Template button to build a personalized template for your shoppable Instagram feed.

Then, in the top right corner, you will find General and Style options. Click on Shoppable Feed under the General section. Toggle the Enable Shoppable Feed to make an Instagram shoppable feed. You will also find the options to create a shoppable feed with the hashtag and shoppable icon choice toggle bar.

After that, click on the Add icon on the top right of any image and you will find the shoppable options.

From the Select Source option, you can choose whether you would like to link this image with any other Posts, Pages, or Custom URL.

If you want to link the photo to any product page, select Custom URL and provide the URL. You can create a customized Button Text as well. Then, click on the Apply button. That’s it. Your Instagram shoppable feed is ready!

But good things do not end here. WP Social Ninja offers full customization features for your shoppable Instagram feed!

Other General settings include different layout types in the Template section. You can also set the number of columns and spaces between Instagram posts.

Moreover, you have other Filter options from which you can filter out the posts you want to show with specific words or hashtags. There are more options, like Header, Follow Button, and Pagination.

And that’s not all. To make your Instagram feed even more appealing, go to the Style section, and you can edit the whole template down to each element. We have customized the Header in the Style section, for example, as you can see in the image.

You can check out our blog on Styling Templates or go through the Documentation for more details.

After customization, copy the shortcode from above and paste it to the page where you would like to display your shoppable Instagram feed. You’re done. Easy, right?

Common issues for Instagram Shop and how to troubleshoot them

Setting up an Instagram Shop is quite easy, as you already know. However, at the same time, the process can be tricky, and you might miss some points along the way.

Besides, Instagram sellers often face some common technical issues while maintaining their IG store. But we don’t want you to get stuck because of them.

So, in this section, we will discuss all the common issues you might face while operating Instagram Shop and how to troubleshoot them.

• Products not showing: Always use top-quality images, write clear and elaborate descriptions, and provide accurate prices for your products.

• Shop not approved: Check whether all your business informations are accurate, remove the products that goes against the Instagram Community Guidelines.

• Shop button not working: Keep your Instagram app up to date and recheck that whether your account meets the latest shopping features requirements.

• Payment issues: Check if the payment methods are supported or not, verify country eligibility, and make sure that all the information is correct.

• Account restriction: Immediately contact Instagram’s support team and prepare to submit all the necessary documents when asked.

Start your victory tales with Instagram Shop

Setting up an Instagram Shop is a smart, modern, and strategic approach for businesses. However, the complex technical process remains the biggest barrier for many.

But if you’ve come this far, you are already equipped with all the knowledge for a successful Instagram Shop setup. Now, it’s up to you to keep the rally going.

Make sure to always stay updated with the latest Instagram selling trends and adjust your business accordingly. Study your niche, keep a keen eye on the analytics, and understand what intrigues your audience the most.

In 2025, successful business is not about hard work; it’s about smart work. All the best!