Facebook aims to drive in-app shopping for businesses. To connect users with brands, stores, and content makers, Facebook has launched a new tab called Facebook Shop. The new feature gives users the possibility to consult and buy products without leaving the app.

In our article, we reveal how Facebook Shop can help ecommerce businesses to grab the audience and improve sales.

Introduction

Facebook is the most popular social network worldwide. The latest data revealed by Statista show that Facebook has more than 2.6 billion active users monthly.

The leading social media platform has been connecting people since 2004. Now, Facebook is searching to connect people with products and brands, giving every business a chance to turn ecommerce.

Launching the new Shops tab, Facebook provides businesses with the opportunity to:

• Design shops;
• Drive discovery;
• Get global reach;
• Communicate to customers directly.

Below we will discover how Facebook’s innovation impacts ecommerce development and what benefits for the merchants this update brings.

What Is Facebook Shops?

On May 19, 2020, Mark Zuckerberg announced the opening of Facebook Shops for businesses. Customers got an opportunity to browse and shop products directly from a brand’s Facebook page or Instagram profile.

Both Facebook and Instagram have already introduced the elements of ecommerce activities. Instagram promotes “shoppable posts” containing products’ descriptions and links to the brand’s website or Insta profile page.

However, the new intention of Facebook has the potential to become a true ecommerce platform providing the customers with a much more convenient opportunity to shop right in the Facebook app.

Facebook Shops is basically an online storefront available on Facebook and Instagram for free. It’s fully customizable as merchants have the ability to select:

• What items to place in a catalogue;
• Accent colours for the store page;
• Images to display the products.

Moreover, with the help of AI and Facebook’s AR-based features, deep personalization of the storefront becomes real. The order of products displayed on a store’s FB Shops page is therefore relevant to each individual store visitor. No need to explore the whole catalog.

FB Shops allows businesses, no matter the size or budget, to enter the ecommerce market and stay connected with customers. This opportunity has gained special importance during the pandemic as many brick-and-mortar stores have been closed.

To launch your own Facebook Shop, you need to meet the below points:

1. Be a FB Business page admin;
2. Be a physical product retailer, as selling services and downloadables is not supported;
3. Read and accept the FB Merchant Terms.

FB Shops Main Features & Benefits for Merchants

Introducing Facebook Shops, Mark Zuckerberg said:

“This is the biggest step we’ve taken yet to enable commerce across our family of apps.”

Below we will outline the key benefits offered to businesses by the new ecommerce feature of Facebook.

Live Shopping Feature

Live Shopping feature that has been made available in Facebook Shops provides an opportunity to tag specific products before starting a live video. The tagged products appear at the bottom of the Facebook app, allowing users to proceed and learn more about the item or to the checkout page. All in a tap.

Live Shopping enables merchants with the opportunities to:

• Sell products directly from the video;
• Redirect the viewers to the web store for detailed information;
• Drive sales through the live stream influencer marketing campaigns;
• Interact with the viewers in real time.

Loyalty Programs

Facebook Shops can also be integrated with loyalty programs. This feature has its benefits both for the merchants and the customers.

1. Merchants can integrate loyalty programs into Facebook, connecting them with the customers’ FB accounts;
2. Customers can easily track bonuses and reward points they have earned in a store through the FB accounts.

Being Close to the Customer

Facebook Shops helps merchants to stay connected with the customers through:

• FB Messenger;
• WhatsApp;
• Instagram Direct.

Facebook Messenger gets a new role. By adding FB Messenger to FB Shops, a merchant enables the customers to view the product catalog right through the app. No need to leave the messenger. Purchasing goods is also available through the messenger chatbot.

Through the three channels mentioned above, providing consumers with a personalized approach in conversations about the products becomes easy. You can provide your customers with images of a selected product, receive unique feedback, and answer the most detailed questions.

Connection with Instagram Shops

As Facebook and Instagram are continuously evolving, the ideas of developing ecommerce features are common for both platforms. Together with FB Shops, Instagram has launched its own Shops functionality.

Instagram Shop is a new, streamlined way to discover and browse shoppable products right from Instagram Explore tab. It has brought the convenience of online shopping to us, allowing for:

• Exploring brands and their offerings;
• Filtering products by category;
• Completing the shopping journey within Instagram.

Wrapping Up

Facebook as an ecommerce platform makes an easy-to-use tool for both newbies in online sales and experienced retailers.

What’s more, the platform with its new ecommerce feature can be linked to your existing online store through a plugin.

In case you have your web store running on Magento, NEKLO’s development team offers the Facebook Widget extension to build a connection between your store and Facebook, arrange Facebook-driven promotion, and attract audiences from there.

Team NEKLO will provide all the necessary support for the installation and customization of the plugin.

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