Facebook announced on 20th May 2020, that they will be launching Facebook Shops, a place where people can shop online conveniently and connect with customers whenever they want to. Facebook Shops will also have an immersive “Live Shopping Features” that they’re planning to roll out in the next few months.
About Facebook Shops
According to Facebook, here are some key points:
- Categorizes the product: Making it easier for the consumer to search for the product, businesses are able to customize the shop with a cover image and accent colors to showcase their brand.
- Link with Instagram Shop
- People can find Facebook Shops on a business’ Facebook Page or Instagram profile, or discover them through stories or ads.
- Able to message a business through WhatsApp, Messenger or Instagram Direct to ask questions, get support, track deliveries, and more.
- 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.
About Instagram Shop
Facebook is also introducing Instagram Shop starting in the US, this summer. Here are some exciting features in Instagram Shop:
- Your shop can be seen by others from your Instagram profile, stories and advertisement
- Get inspired by collections from @shop, browse items from your favorite brands and filter by different categories like beauty and home
- Adding a new shop tab in the navigation bar, so you can get to Instagram Shop in just one tap.
- In the future, it is expected that people can just order and pay at Instagram Shop
Live Shopping Features + Loyalty Programs
During COVID-19, it’s become very common to see businesses utilise Facebook Live to sell products. Now Facebook makes it easier to shop for products in real-time. In the future, the 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.
This feature is quite similar to what’s been offered at Tiktok (The China version, not the international one), and with this feature, small businesses will have something new and exciting to look forward to!
The Loyalty Program is also an interesting feature whereby you can enable Facebook to connect your loyalty programs, like the points program at your local cafe, to your Facebook account. Customers will be able to easily see and keep track of their points and rewards. In the meantime, Facebook is exploring ways to create, manage, and surface a loyalty program on Facebook Shops.
Sounds fun right? You can learn more about how to create a shop step by step in HERE. However, those new and exciting features might come with a small fee.
According to Facebook “About fees for sales“, mention that they will charge 5% selling fees per shipment. But due to COVID-19, currently Facebook will not charge any selling fees, subsidising delivery costs and providing purchase protection relief until 30/06/20.
And although all the new features seem attractive, most of the new features are only available in US currently.
So, for Malaysia, we might need to wait until the end of July or even longer, to enjoy these new features.
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