What are Facebook and Instagram Shops | PCG Digital

Meta offers several free tools for businesses to sell products on Facebook and Instagram. In this blog, we’ll break down Facebook and Instagram Shops, how they work, and how your business can benefit from social commerce.

What are Facebook and Instagram Shops?

Shops are a digital storefront for businesses to showcase and sell their products across Facebook and Instagram. Shops provide users a native mobile experience, browsing your inventory in a full screen immersive experience right within the Facebook or Instagram app. Customers can discover new brands, search for specific products, and complete their purchase without having to leave the app, making for a seamless shopping experience.

Brands can customize their Shops in a number of ways. Products are displayed in collections which can be arranged by category, price, sale, brand, and more. Give your collection a name, description, and select a cover image or video. For a more curated approach, you can create your own custom collections as well. For example, a clothing boutique may create a collection called “Summer Essentials” and select swimwear, sunglasses, sandals, and shorts from across their inventory.

While Shops live on your business page or profile, customers can find your brand by searching for it in the Shop tab on Facebook or Instagram. With product tags, you can link directly to your Shop in your feed posts or stories. Followers of your Facebook or Instagram page will receive a notification whenever new inventory is added to your shop, encouraging them to visit your shop. If someone saves a product it will be added to their cart where they can check out later.

When setting up your shop, you can choose how customers will check out. To allow customers to buy items directly from your Facebook or Instagram Shop, you will need to enable checkout. Otherwise, customers will be directed to your website to complete their purchase.

Should my business utilize Shops?

Shops are ideal for e-commerce brands who want to utilize Facebook and Instagram as an additional sales channel. Within industries such as real estate and automotive, where customers typically cannot complete a purchase online, Shops may not make the most sense. However, Facebook does have automotive-specific commerce tools such as vehicle listings on Marketplace and the vehicles tab on dealership Pages.

Setting up Shop on Facebook & Instagram: The How-To Guide

Before you set up your Shop, make sure your Facebook and Instagram accounts meet the Commerce Eligibility Requirements.

To get started, navigate to Commerce Manager and click “Add account”. On the Create Your Shop page you can sync a partner platform if applicable. On the next page, you’ll choose your checkout method: on your website, with messaging, or on Facebook/Instagram.

Next, select the Facebook page and/or Instagram account you want to sell from. Then you’ll connect your Meta Business Manager account or create a new one. The last step is to select the catalog you want to use for your Shop. If you do not have a catalog set up already, you will skip this step and add your inventory after you’ve finished creating your Shop.

Once your Shop is set up, you will be able to manage your catalog in the Commerce Manager. From here you can add inventory, create collections, select the items you want to display in your shop, and customize the appearance of your shop. Lastly, don’t forget to publish your Shop! Once it is published, your Shop is officially live and people will be able to see your inventory.

See here for the complete step-by-step guide on setting up your Facebook and Instagram Shop.

Is your business utilizing Facebook or Instagram Shops? Need help getting started? Contact one of PCG’s social specialists to learn more!

Chloe McGinley
Chloe McGinley
Chloe is a Social Media Specialist at PCG Digital. She is a digital storyteller with a passion for helping businesses cultivate their unique brand identity and connect with their community using the power of social media. In her free time, she enjoys volunteering at her local animal shelter and being outdoors.
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