DURBAN – Facebook Shops is making it easier for small businesses to set up online stores that customers can 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 catalogue and then customise the look and feel of their shop with a cover image and accent colours that showcase their brand. This means any seller move their business online and connect with customers.
Businesses can go to Commerce Manager to customise their shop and to create, arrange, and customise collections. Each collection will have a name, description, cover media and between 6-30 products that the seller chooses. The products can be organised into collections with a variety of themes that can help customers find products that are right for them.
People can find Facebook Shops on a business’ Facebook Page or Instagram profile, or discover them through stories or ads. From there, user's can browse the full collection, save products they are 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.
Today Mark Zuckerberg announced the launch of Facebook Shops, an online store customers can access on a business’...
Posted by Facebook for Business on Tuesday, May 19, 2020
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.
The social network's goal is to make shopping seamless and empower anyone from a small business owner to a global brand to use Facebook apps to connect with customers.
"We also 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," said Facebook.
Facebook Shop can also help the small businesses that had to close down because of the coronavirus lockdown because customers canconnect to sellers on the platform and shop for products from their homes.
"Small businesses are the heartbeat of our communities and they are facing the challenge of a lifetime. The pandemic isn’t just a public health emergency, it’s also an economic crisis. We hope Shops will enable small business owners to use our apps to connect with their customers," said Facebook.
Although Facebook Shops will be available globally, but it is in its early days and will be rolled out in phases and will be more widely available in the coming months.