Everything You Need to Know About Facebook Shops

Great news for boutiques, gift shops, and other retailers who want to quickly get going with online sales.  Facebook this week launched Facebook Shops – a free service where businesses can list their products for sale on their Facebook Page, Instagram Profile, Stories or in ads. The service will be expanded over time to include WhatsApp and Messenger, according to Facebook.

Any shop can set up a single online store that can be customized with images that best showcase your brand.  This allows any boutique, no matter their size or budget, to quickly bring their business online and connect with their customers.

In today’s environment, where COVID-19 regulations and fears are putting a real burden on retailers, this quick path to setting up an e-commerce site is a welcome development, especially since so many consumers are already using Facebook to connect with their favorite boutiques.

Any business, both big and small, can benefit from this, but Facebook Shops is especially valuable to small independent boutiques. That’s because Shops are free and fast and easy to create. And most importantly, they’re integrated across Facebook’s apps, meaning once you set up your shop, it’s going to be available on your Facebook Page and your Instagram profile (and accessible from stories and ads).

Facebook’s targeted ad and augmented reality technology will also help to make the shopping experience better for your customers. For example, if your boutique offers clothing for men, women and children, you’ll be able to personalize your storefront to show products that are most relevant to the visitor based on their interests and demographics – so a young mom would see both contemporary fashions and kids’ clothes, while her husband might see men’s clothing.  You’ll also be able to allow visitors to try on things like sunglasses, jewelry and hats.

Here’s how Facebook describes Shops:

Facebook Shops make it easy for businesses to set up a single online store for customers to access on both Facebook and Instagram. Creating a Facebook Shop is free and simple. 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.

People can find Facebook Shops on a 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 — either on the business’ website or without leaving the app if the business has enabled checkout.

And just like when you’re in a physical store and need to ask someone for help, in Facebook Shops you’ll be able to message a business through WhatsApp, Messenger or Instagram Direct to ask questions, get support, track deliveries and more. 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.

You can learn more here: https://about.fb.com/news/2020/05/introducing-facebook-shops/