Set up shop on Facebook and Instagram (Photo: Facebook)Having an online shop is so important today. With people huddled at home and movement limited, online shopping has spiked, leaving those without an online presence behind.
However, smaller businesses may want to but find it difficult to come on board.
Enter Facebook Shops, a newly-launched ecommerce service that aims to make it easy for businesses to set up a single online store on both Facebook and Instagram.
Setting up shop is seemingly simple. All that’s needed for businesses is to pick the products to feature from their catalogue, and customise the look and feel with a cover image and accent colours that showcase the 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,” said Facebook.
The online shop can be found on a business’ Facebook Page or Instagram profile, or through stories or ads.
Shoppers can browse the full collection of products, save those they’re 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. There’s no timeline of when or whether checking out using the app will be available in the Asia-Pacific region.
Just like a physical shop when someone is available to answer questions, Facebook Shops shoppers can ask questions via WhatsApp, Messenger or Instagram Direct.
“And in the future, you’ll be able to view a business’ shop and make purchases right within a chat in WhatsApp, Messenger or Instagram Direct,” said Facebook.
Instagram too
Starting in the US in summer, Instagram too will offer a similar shopping service for business. The visually-oriented platform will let shoppers discover products from their favourite brands and creators, filter by categories, and purchase from one place.
A new shop tab will be added in the navigation bar to let shoppers access Instagram Shop with a single tap.
Facebook is partnering with BigCommerce, Cafe24, CedCommerce, Channel Advisor, Feedonomics, Shopify, Tienda Nube, and Woo to let merchants use these third-party platforms to manage their Facebook Shops.
Entelechy Asia 