From Instagram to your own online store

Instagram is a great place to be found. It is a hard place to run a shop. If your day is answering "price?", "do you have it in M?" and "how much to Zahle?" in DMs, scrolling up to find who ordered what, and checking a drawer to see if the black one is still there, the problem is not you. A social feed was simply never built to be an order book.

Moving to your own store does not mean leaving Instagram. It means letting Instagram do what it is good at, and giving your orders a proper home.

Why move at all

• The same questions, all day. A store answers price, sizes, colours and delivery fee before anyone has to ask.
• Orders get lost. In DMs, an order is a scattered mix of messages, voice notes and screenshots. In a store, it is one record with everything on it.
• Stock goes wrong. When you sell the last piece in a DM and again in a comment, someone ends up disappointed. A store counts stock as it sells.
• Customers order while you sleep. A store takes an order at 1 am without anyone waiting for a reply.
• You do not own your account. An Instagram account can be hacked, restricted or lose its reach. Your own store and your customer list stay yours.
• People search. A store with real product pages can show up when someone searches Google for what you sell.

What to prepare before you build anything

The store is the easy part. Preparing your catalogue is the real work, and it pays back every day after.

Photos

• Two or three photos per product at least: the front, a detail, and the product in use.
• Daylight or a steady lamp, a plain background, the true colour. Customers return items that look different from the picture.
• One photo per colour if you sell several colours, so the right picture shows when a customer picks one.
• Keep the original files. Screenshots of your own feed lose quality.

Prices

• Every product priced, in USD. No exceptions and no "DM for price".
• If you show LBP, decide the rate and how often you will update it.
• If something is on sale, keep the original price next to the sale price so customers see the saving.

Variants

• List the options for each product: sizes, colours, materials, scents, weights.
• For each combination, note whether it is in stock and how many you have. "Black, size M, 2 left" is the level of detail a store needs.
• If a variant costs more (a larger size, a gift box), write its price.

Descriptions

Two or three lines per product are enough: what it is, what it is made of, its size or dimensions, and how to care for it. The best descriptions answer the questions customers already ask you in DMs.

Policies

• Delivery. Your zones, fees and delivery times, for every region you serve.
• Payment. Cash on delivery, Whish, and when you ask for payment first.
• Exchanges and returns. How many days, in what condition, and who pays the delivery.

Write them once, in plain language. You will link to them over and over.

Step by step

1. Put everything in one sheet. One line per product variant with the name, option, price, stock and photo file names. This sheet becomes your catalogue, and most store tools can import it.
2. Group your products. A few clear categories (dresses, tops, accessories, or face, body, hair) and a couple of collections such as new in, best sellers or gifts under $30.
3. Choose your store address. A name customers can type and remember. Your own domain looks more established, but a clear subdomain is fine to start with.
4. Set up delivery and payments. Fees and times per zone, cash on delivery switched on, Whish details ready. Our guides on cash on delivery and Whish payments cover both.
5. Place a test order yourself. From your phone, on mobile data, exactly as a customer would. Check the total, the confirmation and the address fields.
6. Tell your followers. A post and a story announcing the store, saying what changes for them: they can order any time, see every size, and pay cash or by Whish.
7. Start answering with links. When someone asks "price?" in a DM, reply kindly with the product link. Over time, customers learn to go to the store first.

Keep Instagram as your shop window

Your store does not replace your feed. It gives every post somewhere to send people.

• Link in bio. Point it at your store, so every visitor lands on your full catalogue.
• Story links. Every product story can carry a link sticker to its product page.
• Highlights. Keep highlights for delivery, payment and exchanges, each pointing to your policies.
• Product tags. If your account is eligible for product tagging, connect your catalogue so posts and stories can tag products directly. Meta decides which accounts and countries qualify, so check in Meta Commerce Manager.
• Keep answering DMs. Some customers will always want to talk first. The difference is that now you can answer with a link instead of a paragraph.

Where Mahallat fits

If the preparation above is what has been stopping you, this is the part Mahallat does for you. Sign up, choose Get your store built and send us your Instagram (questions first? message us on WhatsApp): we build the store from it, products and photos included, during your 14-day free trial. If you already keep a sheet, you can import it as Excel or CSV instead. The store comes with a checkout made for Lebanese addresses, cash on delivery and Whish.

On the Pro plan ($35 a month), an Instagram and Google catalogue feed sends your products back to where your customers already are. After the free trial, plans start at $20 a month. See pricing, compare Mahallat with selling on Instagram alone, or browse the templates.