Instagram Shopping Feature for Brands: A Guide To Level-Up Your Online Business

The Instagram Shopping feature has proved to be a game changer for many brands. For example, Magnolia Boutique saw a 20% increase in revenue, and Native Union’s traffic skyrocketed by a whopping 2,662% because of the Instagram Shopping feature. Harnessing the power of this tool can also jumpstart your ecommerce business by improving your visibility and brand awareness.

Below, Collabstr delves in-depth into different Instagram Shopping features, how you can use influencer collaborations, and how to set up your shop in easy steps. Grab your favorite beverage and dive in!

What Is Instagram Shopping?

Instagram Shopping is a set of features that enable creators and online shop brands to promote, sell their products, and process payments within the platform itself. 

With these innovative features, brands and creators can showcase their items via Stories, ad campaigns, and organic posts. The beauty of Instagram Shopping is that users can discover your products in Explore and Search. And they don’t have to leave the platform to pay for your goods. 

Potential customers can buy your items when they see them on Instagram. Below is an example of a storefront on Instagram. As you can see below, @tanyataylor is promoting products on behalf of a brand in her feed. 

Want to leverage Instagram Shopping? Collaborate with experienced creators who understand the ins and outs of customer-focused content on Instagram, which you can find on Collabstr.

Collabstr is a handy marketplace to find and hire influencers on Instagram who can create sponsored posts to grow your e-commerce business. Head to the platform to see how it works.

Different  Instagram Shopping Features for Brands 

Instagram Shopping has several powerful features that can help scale your online business. Let's explore them in detail below.

Instagram Shopping from Creators

This feature makes it a breeze for brands to work with influencers to drive sales. Potential buyers can shop for products directly from creators without leaving Instagram.

However, your brand must use the Instagram Checkout feature to access Shopping from Creators. This lets influencers create shoppable Instagram posts showcasing your brand’s products. 

Shoppable posts have the following features:

• They have a “paid partnership with” mark below the username

• Users can tap on the post’s image > tap on a shopping tag with a product name and pricing > and then pay for the items at the checkout

From the image below, @aimeesong is promoting Sabrina shorts, which is an example of a partnership between the brand and the creator. You can clearly see the clickable tag under the shorts, which will then redirect you to the product page. 

Want to find and hire Instagram creators faster? Collabstr can help. With its large influencer marketing platform, you can effortlessly and quickly find an influencer. 

You can use its advanced features to customize your search based on your interests, niche, budget, the creator’s engagement rate, etc. You can find Instagram influencers in your niche today, and start your influencer marketing strategy on the right foot!

Instagram Feed Post Shopping

Shoppable Instagram feeds or shopping tags allow your business to leverage its feed to tag products. It makes it possible to promote your products from your catalog in your stories and posts.

Users can view shopping tags in the left-hand corner of your post at the bottom, allowing them to see the content as shoppable. When they tap on the post, they can read the item name and its price and see a “View Products” button. By tapping this CTA, users can see more products, as shown in the above image.

Instagram Stories Shopping

 

Instagram Stories have taken brands, creators, and customers by storm. 36% of businesses use them to promote their products, 60% of Millennials either watch or post Instagram Stories, and 86.6% of people post Stories on Instagram (via Techjury.net).

It’s no wonder, as Instagram Stories lets you add product stickers to let you integrate your products into your Stories. Stickers are entirely customizable, allowing you to change their colors, text, and background colors. Do keep in mind, though, that you can only advertise one product in your stories using this method.

When a customer taps on your product sticker, Instagram takes them to a similar product details page that they see when they tap on a shopping post feed.

The product details page contains the following info:

• Additional product images

• Product details

• Business link to your mobile site to enable shoppers to purchase your products

Instagram Shops

It’s a marketplace that brings all e-commerce brands together on one platform, making it easier for customers to discover products and brands. Shoppers can visit your store from a business Instagram profile or via Stories and Feed. 

Also, by tapping on the “Shop” tag in the “Explore” section, users are redirected to “Brands,” “ Collections,” and “Suggested For You.” Once they are here, they can browse and purchase products through the in-app browser. 

Collections in shops let your business curate products around your favorite themes to highlight your brand story. For example, you can create collections such as “Holiday Gifts” and “Winter Essentials” to give shoppers ideas for what to purchase during the holiday season.

Instagram Live Shopping

Live streaming on Instagram enables creators to promote and sell products while they’re streaming a live broadcast. The live product presentation can turn viewers into buying customers in real time. For example, creators can share a link that viewers can click to purchase a product during the broadcast. 

For this to work seamlessly, the creator must use the Checkout feature. Also, a tappable product section on Instagram Live Stream takes the user to the Checkout to complete the payment.

Instagram Reels Shopping

According to the latest stats, Reels have the highest reach rate (20.59%) compared to images, carousels, and videos. For this reason, brands can take advantage of Reels to tag their products directly in their videos. By swiping Reels up, viewers can browse your products in your shop.

Another advantage of Reels is that product tags allow you to raise brand awareness by using entertaining, short-form content.

If a reel contains product tags, viewers can click View Products to see, buy, or save products.

Instagram Shopping Carousel Post

Carousel Posts lets you tag a maximum of 20 products to display a wide collection on your posts. As a result, you can show other images of the same product line.

Instagram Shop vs. TikTok Shop

Let’s dive into a few differences between Instagram and TikTok’s shopping experiences so you can decide which is perfect for your brand.

Instagram Shop

 

TikTok Shop

Audience Reach 

As we have already seen, Instagram has a wider audience reach, with 2 billion monthly active users globally. On the other hand, TikTok is No. 3 worldwide, with 1 billion monthly active users. With these numbers in mind, it’s a wise business strategy to harness the power of the two social media platforms to reach many people.

Shop Feed

Instagram’s algorithm shows content that you like based on your posts, past engagements, and creators or brands you follow. It pushes content that you think you like to the top of your home feed.

With the Instagram Shop Feed, brands can leverage this algorithm to showcase and sell their products. Customers can “browse shops,” “shop collections,” “ see editors pick,” and see shoppable posts in the Shop Feed. Also, users can do all their shopping and pay for the items within the in-app browser.

In contrast, TikTok lets brands or creators add e-commerce links to their bios. It also has “Shop Now” buttons to enable businesses to use video ads and the “Hashtag Challenge Plus” e-commerce tool. Users can shop for products associated with a sponsored hashtag with this feature. 

As of late, TikTok has partnered with Shopify. Online shops can connect their TikTok for Business account with their Shopify account. This allows you to sell products on TikTok through in-feed shoppable video ads. So if you’re on Shopify, this integration can help drive sales by targeting TikTok’s younger audience. And knowing how to find and hire TikTok influencers can also be a game changer.

Why Is Instagram's Shopping Feature for Brands Important?

According to Bigcommerce, brands report over 1,416% of traffic because of using the Instagram Shopping feature. It’s crystal clear that your business stands to massively benefit from jumping on the bandwagon. 

Let’s look at some advantages of using Instagram Shopping.

Opportunity for Influencer Marketing

Once your Instagram shop is up and running, you can harness the power of influencer marketing to grow your online business. Instead of focusing on raising brand awareness through content collaboration with creators, you can expand your sales as your primary goal.

It’s possible to do this by integrating influencer marketing content into Instagram Shopping. For example, Shoppable Creators let you partner with influencers to create customer-centric content to sell your products. 

Influencers with a highly-engaged audience and a reasonable following can give you more sales opportunities. Want to collaborate with such creators on Instagram? Head to Collabstr to find and hire your most preferred influencer.

Increases Product Discoverability

Well, let’s hear from the horse’s mouth about how effective Instagram Shopping is when it comes to sales. 70% of shoppers flock to Instagram to discover new products. Because of user-friendly features such as shoppable tags, it’s effortless for users to find products on the platform. For instance, you can help customers discover and buy your products by using tags in your photo posts. 

The best part? Shoppers don’t have to visit your main business page to shop. Instead, they can do their shopping through their Stories and Feed when they see your ads or when they find your brand via hashtag searches.

You Can Tap into Impulse Buying

Impulse buying can enable you to sell more products. It happens when customers buy a product without any pre-planned intention because they believe it can satisfy their immediate needs.

Instagram taps into this emotion to allow you to boost sales. Instagram Shop has a visually appealing feed, which draws attention to the product and encourages users to explore it further. Also, the platform makes it easy for users to purchase, meaning they don't have to look for the product elsewhere. 

Combining visual appeal and convenience creates a shopping experience that is perfect for impulse buying. Consumers make their final buying decisions based on emotions, which is a powerful marketing strategy on Instagram.

Easy-to-Purchase Products

Any average user can easily purchase products because of the Instagram Shopping feature. Before the introduction of this tool on Instagram, shoppers would be redirected to a website via a link in the account’s bio (as shown above). Sometimes customers would fail to see the specific product they wanted to purchase even after clicking the link. This might have turned many potential buyers away.

However, it’s now as easy as ABC to browse and purchase products with the Instagram Shopping feature. By tagging products, you can enable shoppers to click through to visit the product details page to see more details and other similar items. From there, they can complete the purchase at the checkout without leaving the platform. 

This has made the shopping experience seamless and pretty straightforward, leading to increased sales for brands.

Improves Brand Awareness

Meta reports that 44% of people say they’re willing to buy from new brands they come across on social media. This is great news for e-commerce stores because many potential customers are on the lookout for products on social platforms. And this makes Instagram Shopping the perfect place to showcase and boost your product sales.

 How to Set up Instagram Shopping

The following steps can let you create your Instagram Shopping within minutes. So let’s get started.

Step #1. Ensure You Meet Instagram’s Eligibility Requirements

First, you must determine if you meet particular conditions to take advantage of Instagram Shopping. Here are some of them:

• You must have a business located in one of Instagram’s supported markets (throughout NA, LATAM, EMEA, and APAC)

• You must accept the platform’s merchant agreement and commerce policies

• The product listings you post on your Instagram professional account must be available for direct purchase from your website. 

• The domain provided must represent the store or website associated with it.

However, note that “Checkout on Facebook and Instagram is currently only supported in the United States.”

Step 2: Convert to a Business or Creator Account

You should create a business account before you can use an Instagram Shop. Follow these steps to set one up: 

• Click the three-line icon in the top right corner of your Instagram profile to access it.

• Choose "Settings"

• Choose "Account," where you can find the "Move to a professional account" option if you don't see it.

• Choose "Continue"

• Choose a commercial category and press "Done."

• Choose "OK" to confirm your decision.

• After selecting "Business," tap "Next."

• Your contact information is now editable.

Your business account will allow you to enter business information, such as opening hours, addresses, phone numbers, and a website link.

Step 3: Add Your Product Catalog to Your Facebook Shop

Instagram Shops work hand in hand with Facebook Shops, as it uses product details from there. So you must link your Instagram account to your Facebook page, create a Facebook Shop and sync your product catalog to the account.

A product catalog contains all the products you want to sell and an inventory list. You can add the product catalog by using the Catalogue Manager through Facebook Business Manager if you don’t have a third-party online store.

This lets you promote your products directly on Facebook.

Step 4: Review Your Account

Because Meta needs to approve your account before you use Instagram Shops, you’ll have to wait a couple of days for the review process to be complete. Meanwhile, after adding the product catalog, do the following:

• Click on “Settings” (under the menu icon)

• Register for shopping

• Finish the steps 

To find out about your current review status, go to “Settings” and choose “Shopping.”

Step 5: Switch on the Shopping Features

Once Meta approves your account, you can now switch on the shopping features to start using Instagram Shops. Use the simple steps below:

• Click on “Settings” (below the menu icon)

• Select “Business”

• Choose “Shopping”

• Pick the product catalog that you want to link to your account and click on “Done”

Best Practices: Instagram Shopping Feature for Brands

Earlier, you discovered the immense benefits of harnessing the Instagram Shopping feature for your brand. To make the most of this groundbreaking Instagram tool, there are a couple of things you need to keep in mind. Let’s discuss them below.

Collaborate with other Businesses and Influencers

By working with other businesses and influencers, you can reach a wider audience and get your brand in front of more people. This can help you to generate more leads and make more sales. Content collaboration can also help build your credibility and trustworthiness as a brand.

Want to jumpstart your e-commerce store? Take advantage of Collabastr, a large marketplace that makes it a breeze to connect with your favorite influencer. 

Also, you can easily buy custom content such as sponsored posts on social media, testimonial videos, product photos, and ads to scale up your online shop on Instagram.

Add Items to Your Catalog So People Can Shop Them

Your product catalog is the key to your success in selling your items on Instagram, so ensure it has all the relevant information. 

• Use one catalog, and if you have more than one, merge them into one product catalog. And use only one catalog across the two platforms for consistency and inventory management.

• Ensure it contains the most latest products, pricing, and inventory counts

• Complete catalog fields such as product name, category, and description

Tag Products in Your posts (and use hashtags for discoverability)

Instagram allows you to tag your products in your posts, so you can make them more discoverable. It helps your potential customers find your items without hassle. 

You can tag products in: 

• Feed (up to 5 products)

• Stories (use 1 product sticker)

• Instagram Reels (up to 30 products)

• IGTV (up to 30 products)

• IG Live (up to 30 products; must be in the U.S and use the Checkout on IG)

However, note the following alert from Meta: “Beginning 10 August 2023, you'll no longer be able to host a shop on your Facebook or Instagram account or use Facebook product tagging in posts.”

Encourage Impulse Buying

According to one study, 88.6% of Americans buy many products due to impulse shopping. They make 156 impulse purchases per year, with an average spend of $81.75 per session. 

While the stats apply to U.S. consumers, it’s a general trend worldwide. You can leverage impulse buying to turn more visitors into buyers and grow your sales on Instagram Shops. 

For example, you can create posts featuring products you know your audience may be interested in or send them personalized product recommendations they may like.

And the good thing about Instagram is that its innovative features make it simple to encourage impulse purchases.

Enable the Instagram Checkout Feature

One more important thing. Make sure you enable the checkout feature on your Instagram shop to make it easy for shoppers to pay for your products. 

With the checkout feature, users can purchase their best-loved products without leaving the in-app browser. It’s a 2-tap checkout that streamlines the purchasing experience and doubles your sales opportunities. You can turn Instagram followers into loyal buyers.

Grow Your eCommerce Business with the Instagram Shopping Feature

The Instagram Shopping feature is a powerful tool that can help you rock your product sales. It offers several aspects, such as “Instagram Reels Shopping,” “Instagram Live Shopping,” “Shoppable from Creators,” and more, to scale your online business. To cash in on these nifty tools, you must satisfy specific Instagram requirements.

In addition, several best practices can help you make the most of Instagram Shopping. And one of them is partnering with influencers to create sponsored content to drive sales. 

Need a quick and hassle-free way to find and hire Instagram creators? Why not give Collabstr a try? Sign up for free as a brand to see how it works!