A super engaged user base and product-friendly feeds have made Instagram a highly anticipated sales channel for Shopify merchants.
Last year, we began testing the ability for US merchants to tag products in their Instagram posts for the holiday shopping season. Now, shopping on Instagram is expanding internationally to businesses in 44 countries.
Now, you can simplify the shopping experience on Instagram by allowing your audience to learn more about your products with a single tap, taking users directly to your Shopify store to make a purchase.
What shopping on Instagram means for you
With over 500 million daily active users, Instagram is one of the fastest growing social apps around, connecting consumers, influencers, and brands.
In the past, this popular photo and video sharing app has been a powerful social media platform for Shopify’s merchants in categories such as fashion, jewelry, beauty, furniture and home decor to engage with their customers in a meaningful way.
The expansion of the shopping on Instagram channel means that merchants can now tag products in their posts, letting consumers complete the entire buyer journey from discovery to checkout. With 9 shopping posts or more, businesses also get a persistent Shop tab on their Instagram business profile that allows customers to tap to view all products on a post.
How to start selling with Instagram shopping posts
To get started with shopping on Instagram, you will need to:
- Operate your business in a supported country. Full list here.
- Have the Facebook channel installed in your Shopify store with an approved Facebook Shop.
- Have an Instagram Business account (which you can set up after connecting to your Facebook Page).
Once you’ve met these requirements, you can simply add the Instagram sales channel to your Shopify store at no additional cost.
With the Instagram channel installed and your store approved, you can enable the feature by visiting Shopping under Business Settings in the Instagram app.
Now you can start tagging posts on Instagram with your products to make them discoverable to users around the world.
Whether you’re sharing a high quality product shot or a user-generated photo, product tags can turn organic engagement into an opportunity for customers to tap through to your products on Instagram and checkout directly on Shopify, without visiting a link in your bio.
Since launching Shopping on Instagram, ORO LA has already seen a 29.3% lift in month-over-month revenue directly attributable to Instagram. Learn more in the case study.
Turn your Instagram posts into purchases
At Shopify, we’re dedicated to growing our available Sales Channels to help merchants sell where their customers are and to make these features accessible to more merchants around the world.
The Instagram sales channel gives our merchants new access to millions of mobile shoppers on a platform that truly loves products, making commerce as seamless as scrolling and tapping through your feed.