Facebook and Instagram Shopping: E-Commerce has gone Social.

Digital Marketing Blog | Rapid Agency | Digital Marketing Agency Belfast

 

 

Facebook and Instagram Shopping: E-Commerce has gone Social.

 

As if Facebook didn’t have a big enough grasp on our lives, enter Facebook and Instagram Shops. It’s Zuckerbeerg’s latest move into e-commerce, monetising another part of the platforms. It’s function is to allow small businesses to sell products through Instagram Direct, WhatsApp, Messenger, and tag products during live broadcasts! But what if we told you that “Shops” is actually super beneficial for your business. Here’s our lowdown on Facebook and Instagram Shopping:

 

Facebook and Instagram Shops

 

Spiralling from the Covid-19 outbreak, Facebook and Instagram Shops was unveiled earlier than planned – but with so many businesses in the hardest economic times in recent history, it was time to speed up the process. Whilst it won’t fix the problem, it does have many advantages, making its super easy to use, efficient and really drives conversions.
 

 

Online Store directly connected to your Socials

 

 

It will allow your business page on Facebook and Instagram to have an online store, selling directly on the aforementioned platforms as well as WhatsApp, Instagram Explore etc. The “Shop” page will show on your profile and give users the ability to see a catalog of products. The best bit? This can be linked directly to your website, so after a few easy connections, you are good to go. Currently it works alongside Shopify, BigCommerce, Woo, Channel Advisor, CedCommerce, Cafe24, Tienda Nube, and Feedonomics with more to be added to the list.

 

 

Social Media Shopfront

 

You can also customise your “shop front” essentially to make it as on brand as possible – adding to the user experience. You can message the business – ask any questions, track your delivery, anything you need to know. However, whilst this is currently a free service, Facebook do have plans to collect commission – so keep your eyes peeled.

 

Real time Social Shopping

 

Live Shopping will also take the platforms by storm as they allow you to shop on Live in real-time.
Live video has a strong e-commerce culture, so businesses can make the most of this by tagging products from their “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.”

Wonderful to see how the tech world can come together to help small businesses in a crisis such as Coronavirus to help small businesses survive.