Following on the heels of the successful Marketplace, Facebook announced the release of Shops for retail businesses in May of this year.  Unlike Marketplace that is an open community buying and selling platform, Shops caters specifically to retail businesses and allows them to create a virtual storefront on both their Facebook and Instagram pages.  

The development of Shops was driven by a vision to both recreate the buying experience for the nearly 3 billion users active on Facebook and Instagram and to open a new retail channel for e-commerce businesses. According to a representative of Facebook, “[Facebook] wants to give people a place to experience the joy of shopping versus the chore of buying. And we want to help small businesses adapt and make it easier for people to discover and shop for things they love… Our goal is to make shopping seamless and empower anyone from a small business owner to a global brand to use our apps to connect with customers.”

How To Shop

Shopping your favorite retailers couldn’t be easier with Shops. Simply navigate to the brand that you want to browse and a View Shop button will be clearly displayed on their account page. Please note that brands must take the initiative to set up their Shop. So if your favorite store is missing the Shop feature on Facebook or Instagram, try sending them a DM to request that they make that feature available!

Below are some snapshots of Facebook Shops as seen on the desktop site (please note I used the New Facebook in Dark Mode as opposed to Classic Facebook).

As an example, I searched for Ink Meets Paper, a stationery store. A blue View Shop button is clearly seen directly below their cover image, on the right.

After clicking on View Shop, I was taken to the Shop home page. As you can see, the store has created different featured collections. Below those are more individual items that can be scrolled through.

When you click on a single item it brings up the product shop page. You can scroll through different images by clicking the arrows, and see all product details and customer reviews on the righthand menu. To buy the item, simply select the desired quantity and click “Checkout.”

And shopping on Instagram is a nearly identical experience. You’ll head over to the brand that you want to shop. On their profile page, you’ll see a View Shop button above their regular feed. Click that and you’ll land on their Instagram Shop! See the images below for a visual guide.

Why You Should Sell On Shops

Setting up a Shop for your business should be a no brainer! There’s no better place to sell to your customer base than your social media profile, especially if your brand tends to cater to the Millennial generation. Users are already landing on your profile to view your products. Having a seamless e-commerce channel integrated with your account removes one more barrier to the point of transaction.

Additionally, they’ve done a great job in giving the buyer Visual Merchandising flexibility. As you can see from the above photos, Shops can be organized by categories and there’s plenty of freedom to incorporate striking visuals to enhance the consumer experience. The photos below also show the product information page. There is space for an adequate description as well as the ability to include need-to-know information such as Returns and Shipping Policies.

Planned Future Enhancements

We have to hand it to Facebook; they did a great job in creating a platform that empowers business owners to seamlessly integrate their social accounts into their overall e-commerce strategy. They’re currently undergoing testing and development to roll out even more useful features, like the ability to connect an existing loyalty program to the Facebook Shop.

As any typical consumer, I know this will be a very compelling feature for me when browsing my favorite shops. I am personally a member of multiple loyalty programs across a wide spectrum of brands and love it when my purchases bring back some kind of return.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Facebook and Instagram Shops integrate seamlessly into both the business’s commerce stack and the consumer’s user experience on social media. We honestly can’t believe it’s taken them this long to roll this feature out, given how popular social media is for the promotion of e-commerce brands. So whether you’re a business that’s looking for additional avenues to merchandise your product, or you’re a buyer who loves a convenient way to browse your favorite stores, Shops is a new feature that you should be taking advantage of!