Facebook launches Shops feature for small businesses

Facebook is making a major new push into the e-commerce space with the launch of Shops.

This enables businesses to set up free storefronts on Facebook and Instagram, powered by third-party services, including Shopify, BigCommerce, and Woo.

The stores will appear on business pages, Instagram profiles and through targeted stories and ads. Further details here.

Facebook Shops are rolling out this week. Instagram Shops are coming this summer and businesses will also soon be able to set up a single online store on Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp.

According to Facebook: “We hope these tools can relieve some of the pressure small businesses are facing right now and help businesses of all sizes prepare for the future.”

“Huge news as Facebook continues its inexorable march towards becoming the west’s ‘Super App’. This extends the fusion of social and commerce and makes it easier for merchants to leverage the Facebook family of apps as new marketplaces to sell through,” says Jason Greenwood, Director of Solutions at Moustache Republic.

“While Facebook and Instagram have supported limited commerce functions for some time, this elevates it to a whole new level and puts it on an almost equal footing to purely social functions of these apps,” he adds.

There will also be ways for merchants to feature and link in their live videos [on Instagram] products from their Facebook Stores, and for consumers to connect loyalty programmes to their Facebook accounts, he notes.

“This is a big deal, linking products from Live videos like WeChat is rolling out. Plus of course ads can target these new shopping experiences,” Greenwood concludes.