Facebook and Instagram Shop Features
Before having their own in-app shopping feature, both Facebook and Instagram already supported e-commerce. Now, they have shifted business models during COVID-19 crisis and turn it to a new shopping experience for people to shop for what they love while scrolling through a smartphone.
First, let's start with Facebook. They have Facebook Marketplace and Facebook Shop available on their platform.
Facebook Marketplace makes it easier for people to conveniently buy and sell anything you want around the area. You can look through the list or even search for what you have in mind. The most convenient thing about Facebook Marketplace would be the in-app experience, you don't have to download a separated app or set up a new account. All items can be sell on Facebook Marketplace feature; clothes, TVs, cars and even real estate, used or new products. It is a great place for big, small, old and new businesses to try selling their products and approach to different and variety of audience.
Facebook Shop is another feature that helps small businesses expand their target base and helps small businesses to sell online easier. You can straight up create one online store and it will immediately direct customers to both Facebook and Instagram. Business owners can also select which product to display on the catalog and customize the cover image that gives out the most suitable aesthetic to your brand. To access to Facebook Shop, you can find them on a business’ Facebook Page or Instagram profile, or even discover it through stories ads. Customers can look at the full catalog and favorited the products they are interested in as well. At the moment, Facebook is partnering with; Shopify, BigCommerce, Woo, Channel Advisor, CedCommerce, Cafe24, Tienda Nube and Feedonomics.
Instagram shop gives you the direct access to the products of each brands. People can visit a shop from a business’ Instagram profile or through Feed and Stories. Once they are at the shop, people can browse products, explore collections, and purchase products. All of these can be done in-app, starts from choosing the product through the checkout process. Instagram Shop lets business owners customize their customers' shopping experience, as well as choosing the theme that suits the brand.
If you find these features interesting, we encourage you to try adapting them to your business plan. No additional expense, suits well for both big and small businesses. These features might help raise the awareness of your brand to a wider and bigger audience across the world.
references:
https://business.instagram.com/blog/introducing-shops-on-instagram
https://about.fb.com/news/2020/05/introducing-facebook-shops/
https://about.instagram.com/blog/announcements/introducing-instagram-checkout?igb_blog_shops_launch