Facebook Launches Shops to Help Small Retailers

Posted on June 3, 2020 by Sarah Blocksidge

Shops Will Allow Businesses to Sell Online Through Facebook and Instagram

Facebook ShopsLook out Amazon, there is a new e-commerce platform in town. Recently, Facebook announced that small businesses will be able to sell items through the company’s new platform, Facebook Shops, in response to struggles businesses have seen from the COVID-19 pandemic.

What You Need to Know

  • Facebook Shops went live on May 19, and will be available to all Facebook and Instagram business pages in the coming weeks
  • This new feature will be entirely free and will allow you to create product catalogs of items you’d like to be sold
  • There are no restrictions for the size of your business to sell, but Shops was launched to further help smaller retailers who may need extra help
  • Users will be able to take advantage of Messenger, WhatsApp, and Instagram direct messaging for support, questions, shipping updates and more
  • Later on, you will be able to sell directly from Facebook Live, so shoppers can make purchases in real time, which will roll out over the next few months
  • The platform is also currently working on a loyalty points-like program to incentivize rewards to owners and consumers
  • Similar to the Google Ads shopping update, Facebook is partnering with popular platforms such as Shopify, BigCommerce, WooCommerce, ChannelAdvisor, CedCommerce, Cafe24, Tienda Nube and Feedonomics to help businesses grow

Coming This Summer: Instagram Shopping

In their announcement, Facebook also mentions that in the coming months Instagram will be getting some major updates to reflect the changes being made for Facebook Shops, such as having a shopping tab within the app for users to explore products.

Check Out More Marketing News on Our Blog

Catch up on some other recent updates in the digital marketing industry:

And be sure to subscribe to our newsletter for more industry news!

Our Partners & Awards