Facebook Shops launched to aid Small Businesses

As several small businesses look for transforming to digital, as several are grappling with the pandemic, Facebook Shops have been rolled out to enable online buying & selling online.

Facebook Shops enables setting up a single online store for customers to access on both Facebook and Instagram. Creating a Facebook Shop is free. Businesses can choose the products they want to feature from their catalog and then customize the look and feel of their shop with a cover image and accent colors that showcase their brand. Any seller, irrespective of their size or budget, can bring their business online and connect with customers.

People can find Facebook Shops on a business’ Facebook Page or Instagram Profile, or discover them through stories or ads. From there, users can browse the full collection, save products they are interested in and place an order — either on the business’ website or without leaving the app if the business has enabled checkout in the US.

Facebook Shops also has the option for users to message a business through WhatsApp, Messenger or Instagram Direct to ask questions, get support, track deliveries, and more. And in the future, users will be able to view a business’ shop and make purchases form within a chat in WhatsApp, Messenger, or Instagram Direct. 

Facebook Shops has been rolled out and will be more widely available in the coming months.

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Facebook is also investing in features across their apps like Instagram Shop, live shopping, and more that will be integrated with Facebook Shops to help customers discover products they’re interested in and purchase them.

Instagram Shop

This summer, starting in the US, Instagram Shop is being introduced, to discover and buy products in Instagram Explore. You can view collections from @shop, browse selections from brands and creators, filter by categories like beauty and home, and purchase products. And later this year, a new shop tab will be added to the navigation bar.

Live Shopping Features

People have been using live video on apps to showcase products, from announcing new sneakers to trying on different lipsticks. Soon, sellers, brands, and creators will be able to tag products from their Facebook Shop or catalog before going live and those products will be shown at the bottom of the video so users can tap to learn more and purchase. Facebook is starting to test this with businesses on Facebook and Instagram and will be rolled out more broadly in the coming months. 

Loyalty Programs

The platform is testing ways to make it easier to earn rewards with businesses, by enabling users to connect loyalty programs, like the points program at a local cafe, to the Facebook account. Businesses will be able to easily see and keep track of points and rewards. Facebook is also exploring ways to help small businesses create, manage, and surface a loyalty program on Facebook Shops. 

Partners

Facebook is working with partners such as Shopify, BigCommerce, WooCommerce, ChannelAdvisor, CedCommerce, Cafe24, Tienda Nube, and Feedonomics. These organizations offer tools to help entrepreneurs start and run their businesses and move online. They’ll assist small businesses to build and grow their Facebook Shops and use our other commerce tools.