Facebook Shops 101

Selling products through social media platforms has become significantly more popular in the past year. In fact, there was a 20 percent jump in social media purchasing in 2020, resulting in roughly $23.3 billion in sales. Getting started with Facebook Shops doesn’t have to be hard; we can show you how.

What are Facebook Shops?

Facebook Shops are virtual storefronts that live natively on your company’s Facebook page and Instagram account. With a Facebook Shop, your customers can discover, share and even buy your products without leaving the social media platform.

Facebook Shops offer several features to help you easily sell online. You can create a native shopping experience so your products are discoverable right from your main Business Page; customize design elements like color and font so your Shop matches your brand; and set up a single Shop that appears across Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger.

Benefits of Using Facebook Shops

Facebook Shops make it easy and cost-effective for even the smallest business to create an attractive online shopping experience for their customers. 

Reduce friction for customers

Shopify identifies a difficult checkout process as a top reason people abandon their online shopping carts, but Facebook Shops removes this issue in two different ways. 

First, after a shopper has made their purchase through Checkout, their payment and shipping details auto-fill for any other vendor also using Checkout. Second, shoppers can float from one app to the next and continue their shopping process. So, if you see something on Instagram and place it in your cart, you can check it out later on Facebook.

Have an online shop without using an e-commerce platform

You can display products, answer customer questions and collect a payment, all from your Facebook Shop. With this available, you don’t have to worry about creating an online store with sites like Shopify or Etsy.

If you do have one of those platforms though, you can sync it with your shop to update inventory and pricing so correct information is always reflected on each account.

Visible through popular Facebook features

People interact with Facebook and Instagram in a lot of ways. Facebook Shops help you catch users’ attention no matter how they use the platforms. 

For example, you can display products and a Shop link on your Business Page or Instagram profile. You can have links to your products on Facebook Live videos or Instagram Stories. Your ads and organic posts can have tags that lead visitors to a product page. Your products can even be discoverable in Instagram’s and Facebook’s shopping search tabs.

What Brands Should Keep in Mind

Facebook Shops might be a great option for brands that want to dabble in e-commerce for the first time or expand their strategy to major social networks.ca

While Facebook Shops and other e-commerce platforms can be beneficial to your brand and revenue, there are still a few things you’ll want to keep in mind before launching any online store or service:

• Promote the shopping experience: If audiences don’t know about your products or your brand, they might not find your Facebook Shop. That’s why it is important to promote your Shop, product details, and brand as you would any other online store.
• Prepare for high demand: If you have a great listing of products, people might rush to buy them. But if your team can’t respond quickly enough to customer demand, delayed orders or other snags could cause shoppers to avoid your Facebook Shop in the future, Prepare to respond to good purchasing outcomes and high demand, as well as poor outcomes.
• Brand consistency is still important: Although Facebook Shops exists on a social media platform, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t stay on-brand. If your Facebook Shop’s style, images and layout look unprofessional or inconsistent with your website or Facebook Business page, people might distrust it or be less willing to give your Shop their payment information.
• This doesn’t replace your website. Even if a Facebook Shop is the best option for selling right now, don’t think this is the answer to your complete online presence. A dedicated website is the only digital property you own and control independently. Make use of these social channels while you can, but continue to build up your complete digital storefront on your own website just like you would your physical store.  

Fifteen percent of social media users in the U.S. use Facebook to shop. Don’t leave money on the table because you aren’t sure how to use Facebook Shops. Our marketing team at Rooted Web can walk you through the process of setting up your Shop, making sure you are ahead of your competition this holiday season. Let’s chat!