Selling on Facebook and Instagram: How to create your online shop?

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"Shopping on Facebook and Instagram"

Selling on Facebook and Instagram: How to create your online shop?

Author: Nelli Petrosyan

November 3, 2020

Digitization of the era shaped human thoughts and perceptions over sales and purchases. Today in many cases online shopping takes the place of traditional shopping habits. Studies indicate that 40% of the world population uses social media. And it’s no longer merely another way of spreading information.

It’s important to highlight how various kinds of businesses try to benefit from social media aiming at growing their online sales.Facebook and Instagram are included in the top 5 most visited websites globally. And it becomes more essential to promote sales through these channels day by day.

If you have not registered your business on Facebook or Instagram yet then it’s high time for you to correct your mistake. Today we will go through Facebook and Instagram shops to understand how to implement sales on these channels.

Shop online on Facebook

No matter what it is: electronics, clothing or toys only right-to-the-point targeting can help generate valuable sales. There’s no magic stick for this. All you need is just a well-cultivated marketing strategy which will help you improve your online sales.

Business pages on Facebook have a chance to create their own shops. You just need to be smart enough to use this feature the way it promotes your product sales on Facebook. 

 A Facebook shop is a separate tab which can be added to the business page. You can then insert your products with their photos, descriptions, prices and availability in the shop. In short, it’s your online store on the platform.

Users can find all the above-mentioned information visiting your page. They can also add their favorite items in the shopping cart and visit the landing page of a certain product on your eCommerce website.

When adding a shop tab to your page you can also choose the “Send message” option so that users can directly message you for their wished products.  

Facebook provides analytics for each product in the shop including clicks, views, purchases, etc.

Below you can find a Facebook shop example:


ModCloth Facebook Shop

Selling a product on Facebook has its own terms and conditions. So before creating your shop get to know the Merchant Agreement.

Apart from the shop tab Facebook allows to run catalog sales through Catalog Manager. Here you can create your own catalog, insert products with their details classifying each of them.

You can run catalog sales  with:


  • Instagram Shopping
  • Facebook page shop tab
  • Facebook Ads
  • Marketplace

For now Facebook has 2.7 billion monthly active users globally. So take the social media giant seriously and use all its available resources to promote your online sales. 


How to sell on Instagram?

To create your own online shop on Instagram you need to use Instagram Shopping. If you run a business page you can activate it in the page settings. After that you’ll have to wait for some time/weeks for Instagram to confirm the function for your business. 

Instagram shopping allows you to create shoppable posts. A small bag icon appears in the bottom-left corner of a photo. When users click on that they see the product price, description and will be able to visit the product website and make a final purchase. 

Your business must have an eCommerce website to be able to use Instagram Shopping features. Instagram itself does not support any payment system. 

Below you can find an Instagram Shop example:  

Carter’s Shop on Instagram

The total number of Instagram users is expected to reach 1 billion by 2023. This means that especially small and medium enterprises must pay special attention to the platform and use it to generate online sales and build brand awareness. 

Now let’s jump to some highly principal points that will help the process of online sales on Instagram.

Visual content is of utmost importance on Instagram. Every business must pay special attention to their page photos. Photos must be as attractive as possible shot in a professional way (if the business can afford it). Keep in mind that most of the Instagram audience are young people. Just think for a minute what kind of content they expect to explore.



70% of shopping addicts use Instagram to search for their desired products. 

Write a concise but strongly informative bio for your Instagram business page. It must include the following:


  • Link to your website
  • The main goal of your business
  • The main characteristic of your product (ex:children’s handmade clothes)

Thousands of people try to sell on Instagram. In that huge stream you need to find something which will make your product unique.

Maybe you provide free delivery service or it’s possible to return or exchange the order, or maybe you give your customers discount coupons? Never be afraid to stand out. Your business will only benefit from that. 

Set your logo as your profile picture. It will help people remember and then identify your business with certain colors and style. Boost your brand awareness with visual memory. 

Post regularly. Except for the paid ads you must also remember about organic reach. Instagram supports the pages that post authentic and appealing content with regular frequency. 

Consider hashtag research for your business as well as creating your brand’s own hashtags. They help optimize product search on Instagram and promote organic reach. 

Run paid ads if you want to gain more followers. You can activate ads directly from Instagram or using Facebook Ads Manager. For a better ROI (return on investment) indicator you must choose right targeting and demographics along with well-shaped content.

In any case remember that having a huge amount of followers does not make a page active. It’s better to have a small number of followers but loyal customers at the same time.

Moving your business to online platforms has a number of advantages. Unlike traditional shops:



  • Online shops save more space, money and time
  • Shopping online is less time-consuming. It allows you to order any item from any corner of the world.
  • Quality photos and videos can be doubly impressive for your customers
  • Social media allows you to show your product on user’s feed for multiple times
  • The connection between business and customer is faster and easier

The demand for online sales is increasing day by day. No matter what it is- an online or traditional shop- selling is not an easy task. It requires much effort. And customers are capricious: they usually want to find something special. All you need to have is the ability of persuading customers that your product is the best. 

Do you use Facebook and Instagram shops for your business? If yes, share your own tips in the comments below! 

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