In a live video broadcast earlier today, the founder and CEO of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg has announced the launch of their new product on the giant social media platform – Facebook Shops.
According to his speech, this is necessary as the lock-down has forced so many businesses to go online, and to further assist in accomplishing this goal for businesses, Facebook Shops make it easy for businesses to set up a single online store for customers to access on both Facebook and Instagram, and what is more, creating a Facebook Shop is free and simple.
In Zuckerberg’s statement, “Facebook Shops are free and easy to create. When you set up your shop, it will appear on your Facebook and Instagram accounts to start and soon on Messenger and WhatsApp too. Shops are native and fast, which means no more app-switching to a slow mobile web browser where you have to reenter your credit card when you tap on an interesting product you see in feeds. We’re also working with partners like Shopify, BigCommerce, WooCommerce, Channel Advisor, CedCommerce, Cafe24, Tienda Nube and Feedonomics so that small businesses can easily integrate into a strong, open ecosystem of tools to help them manage their customer journey end-to-end, and it’s up to the business to decide what level of integration they want. “
“If you’re running a small business or you’re thinking of starting one – even from your living room – you now have a whole suite of tools available that can help you serve your customer base.“
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. This means any seller, no matter their size or budget, can bring their business online and connect with customers wherever and whenever it’s convenient for them.
Facebook Shops can be accessed via business’ Facebook Page or Instagram profile, or discover them through stories or ads. From there, you can browse the full collection, save products you’re interested in and place an order.
Another interesting feature is the Live Shopping.
People have been using live video on Instagram and Facebook to showcase products for years now, with Live Shopping, customers can shop for products in real time. 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 people can easily tap to learn more and purchase.
According to Mark, “Lastly, in the near future Shops will use our AI and augmented reality tech to create better shopping experiences. We’ll automatically identify and tag products in feeds so people can easily click-through to purchase when they find things they like. Small businesses will also be able to personalize their storefronts to first show products that are most relevant to you and use augmented reality to let you virtually try on things like sunglasses, lipstick or makeup to see how they might look on you before buying, or what furniture might look like in your room.“
Do note that most of these features will first be deployed in the US before extending to other countries where Facebook operates.