We want 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.

Facebook , May 19, 2020

Introducing Facebook Shops: Helping Small Businesses Sell Online

Facebook has always been about connecting you to what you love. That means friends and family, but also products, brands and businesses. For years, people have used our apps to buy and sell things from the early days of posting a photo of a bicycle with the caption “for sale,” to selling your coffee table on Marketplace and now shopping styles from your favorite brands and influencers on Instagram. It was the people who use our apps who envisioned social commerce. We’re helping them make it a reality. 

We want 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.

Right now many small businesses are struggling, and with stores closing, more are looking to bring their business online. 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. That’s why we’re launching Facebook Shops and investing in features across our apps that inspire people to shop and make buying and selling online easier. 

Introducing Facebook 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 in the US.

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. 

Screenshots of messaging a business on WhatsApp
Screenshots of messaging a business on Messenger

We’re starting to roll out Facebook Shops today, and it will be more widely available in the coming months. You can learn more about how we built Shops with privacy in mind here.

We’re also investing in features across our apps like Instagram Shop, live shopping and more that will be integrated with Facebook Shops to help customers discover products they’re interested in and make purchasing easier.

Instagram Shop: A New Place to Discover Products and Brands

This summer, starting in the US, we’re introducing Instagram Shop, a new way to discover and buy products you love in Instagram Explore. You can get inspired by collections from @shop, browse selections from your favorite brands and creators, filter by categories like beauty and home, and purchase the looks you love all in one place. And later this year, we’re adding a new shop tab in the navigation bar, so you can get to Instagram Shop in just one tap. 

Screenshots of Instagram Shop

Live Shopping Features

People have been using live video on our apps to showcase products for years, from shoe stores announcing new sneakers to beauty influencers trying on different lipsticks. Now, we’re making it easier to shop for products in real time. Soon, sellers, brands and creators will be able to tag products from their Facebook Shop or catalog before going live and those products will be shown at the bottom of the video so people can easily tap to learn more and purchase. We’re starting to test this with businesses on Facebook and Instagram, and we’ll roll it out more broadly in the coming months. 

Screenshot of Live shopping on Facebook
Screenshot of Live shopping on Instagram

Connecting Loyalty Programs to Your Facebook Account

We’re also testing ways to make it easier to earn rewards with businesses you love by enabling you to connect your loyalty programs, like the points program at your local cafe, to your Facebook account. You’ll be able to easily see and keep track of your points and rewards. And we’re exploring ways to help small businesses create, manage and surface a loyalty program on Facebook Shops. 

Screenshots of connected loyalty programs on Facebook

Working With Partners

We’re also working more closely with partners like Shopify, BigCommerce, WooCommerce, ChannelAdvisor, CedCommerce, Cafe24, Tienda Nube and Feedonomics to give small businesses the support they need. These organizations offer powerful tools to help entrepreneurs start and run their businesses and move online. Now they’ll help small businesses build and grow their Facebook Shops and use our other commerce tools.

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.

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PLEASE ALSO READ

Shopify partners with Facebook to help businesses launch branded Facebook Shops

“Shopify powers more than one million businesses that are transforming the direct-to-consumer landscape and changing the way we shop. With Facebook Shops, we’re bringing the tech industry together to help entrepreneurs succeed at a critical time,” said Tobi Lütke, CEO of Shopify. “By pairing Shopify’s platform and commerce capabilities with Facebook’s reach and scale, we are reducing the barriers to entrepreneurship and advancing the future of commerce.”

“Shopify offers tools that entrepreneurs need to start and run their businesses, and they’re helping a lot of companies move online. We’re excited to work with them to help small businesses prepare for the future,” said Mark Zuckerberg, Founder and CEO of Facebook.

Shopify , May 19, 2020

Shopify partners with Facebook to help businesses launch branded Facebook Shops

Today, we’re announcing our partnership with Facebook to help businesses create Facebook Shopsa new and free tool helping merchants create a customized online storefront for Facebook and Instagram. As consumers increasingly shift to online and mobile shopping to find the products they want, tools like Facebook Shops will help merchants offer more seamless experiences and strengthen relationships with their customers.

Shopify has partnered with Facebook since 2015 to provide merchants the best multi-channel commerce solution, and is one of the first commerce partners supporting this new, mobile-first shopping experience. Merchants will get control over customization and merchandising for their storefronts inside Facebook and Instagram, while managing their products, inventory, orders, and fulfillment directly from within Shopify. Consumers will be able to easily find, browse, and buy products through a purpose-built, immersive experience in these apps they use every day. Checkout will be powered by Shopify for merchants, with Shopify also offering Instagram Checkout to select merchants testing the new feature.

To make it even easier for Shopify merchants to grow their businesses across Facebook’s family of apps, we are also launching a new, unified Facebook channel. Merchants will be able to automatically connect their Shopify business to Facebook in one place, while making their customers’ shopping experience feel native to each individual app. This new channel is available for installation today, and will continue to grow in functionality throughout the year.

“Shopify powers more than one million businesses that are transforming the direct-to-consumer landscape and changing the way we shop. With Facebook Shops, we’re bringing the tech industry together to help entrepreneurs succeed at a critical time,” said Tobi Lütke, CEO of Shopify. “By pairing Shopify’s platform and commerce capabilities with Facebook’s reach and scale, we are reducing the barriers to entrepreneurship and advancing the future of commerce.”

“Shopify offers tools that entrepreneurs need to start and run their businesses, and they’re helping a lot of companies move online. We’re excited to work with them to help small businesses prepare for the future,” said Mark Zuckerberg, Founder and CEO of Facebook.

You can watch Tobi discuss the launch of Facebook Shops with Mark here:

Facebook Shops will become available globally for all businesses across Facebook and Instagram over the coming months. Shopify merchants can get ready for this launch by setting up Shopify’s Facebook channel, allowing them to connect with Facebook and customize their new Facebook Shops as soon as they become available.

Learn more about Shopify’s Facebook channel and Facebook Shops here.

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