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Social commerce has greatly changed the way consumers and businesses approach online shopping, and it’s experiencing rapid growth globally. By 2025, the social commerce market is projected to be worth approximately $2 trillion due to key growth drivers like new shopper journeys, the continued rise of influencers, and the emergence of new shopping formats.
One such platform that has entered the social commerce race is Facebook, with the launch of its Facebook Shops. Since its launch in 2020, this mobile-first shopping experience has enabled both customers and brands to access more seamless buying and selling experiences online.
Facebook Shops allows merchants to set up a single online store that their customers can easily access on Facebook and Instagram. Shops are customizable and let you choose the products you want to feature. You can also personalize your Shop’s look, such as its cover image and accent colors, to better convey your brand story. What’s more, with Facebook Shops, you can directly connect with customers to answer their queries or offer support via channels like Messenger or Instagram Direct.
Some of Facebook Shops’ key features include:
Before you bring your brand online and in front of a larger audience, it’s worth noting that Meta introduced changes to Facebook Shops in 2023. These changes affect several regions, including the US, Europe, and Asia-Pacific. Before setting up your Facebook Shop, it’s best to familiarize yourself with these changes first. For instance, if you’re running a Facebook Shop in the US, you need to use checkout on Facebook and Instagram. You can set this feature up using the Commerce Manager. If you haven’t enabled this feature by April 24, 2024, then your Facebook Shop, including features like product tagging, will no longer be accessible.
Facebook, with its Marketplace and Shops, is one of the leading social commerce platforms, especially for 62% of Gen Z shoppers. Furthermore, for a total of 49% of US adults, Facebook is the platform where they’re more likely to make purchases.
In 2023, it was estimated that 37% of the platform’s users would make a purchase on Facebook. And while Amazon remains the most popular platform consumers use to start their search when shopping online, 21% of US consumers in 2023 used Facebook to jumpstart their online shopping searches.
Facebook Shops have become immensely popular. How can brands and small or medium-scale businesses benefit from creating a Facebook Shop?
Facebook has over 3 billion global monthly active users. By setting up shop on the platform, you’re putting your business in front of a wider audience, enhancing your visibility online. Plus, you have the opportunity to reach out to and engage potential customers by interacting with them in the comments. Furthermore, when it comes to enhanced visibility, Facebook lets you tag your products in your posts or Reels, which makes it easier for you to reach potential customers while showcasing your products.
Facebook Shops can potentially help you grow your sales and ROI, especially if you don’t have a dedicated ecommerce website or shop yet. As an ecommerce alternative, Facebook Shops provides your customers with a streamlined shopping experience. They can do all their shopping on the platform, giving you the opportunity to interact with them when they’re at the point where they’re highly engaged.
For example, Pink Tag Boutique, a boutique online retailer, used Facebook Shops and live shopping to promote their products. This move resulted in a significant increase in their sales, orders, and average order value (AOV). They set up a Facebook Shop with checkout features in Commerce Manager, which provided their customers with a digital storefront. From October 2020 to February 2021, the boutique increased its sales by over $44,000, grew its orders to 804 incremental orders, and increased its AOV by 66%.
Facebook Shops simplifies the shopping process for your customers. On Facebook Shops, they can browse products, add them to a shopping cart, and proceed to checkout without leaving the platform, just like other ecommerce platforms. Its major feature, however, is seamless communication between the customer and the business.
If customers have any concerns or questions, they can send you a message from the Shop. Conversely, through communication channels like Messenger and WhatsApp, you can directly chat with customers, share recommendations, address any issues, and more. This feature lets you deliver enhanced customer service, which helps create better overall shopping experiences for your customers.
Aside from these benefits, having a Facebook Shop lets you tag or feature your products in your Facebook posts so prospects can easily find them and be redirected to your Shop. You can also gain critical insights with the Commerce Manager. This feature also lets you manage all of your commerce activities on both Facebook and Instagram, such as adding and updating your inventory and catalog, managing orders, and monitoring payouts and sales performance.
Setting up your Facebook Shop is a relatively straightforward process. However, here are some helpful tips to keep in mind before you get started.
Before you set up shop, you must meet the following requirements:
Failing to comply with these requirements can lead to either losing access to commerce features or disabling your account.
If you’re already a Shopify seller, you can still create shops and use Shops ads. Just make sure that your website is hosted on Shopify and that you’ll download the “Facebook & Instagram” app via the Shopify app store. Once you’ve set up your Facebook Shop, your Shopify products will automatically be synced, and you can continue to manage your orders via Shopify.
If you want your Facebook shop to also be visible on Instagram, then you need to create an Instagram business account. You also need to own the Instagram business account that your business portfolio is connected to.
You can set up a Facebook Shop for free. However, Meta does charge processing fees for checkout transactions, which will be automatically deducted when a seller makes a sale. For non-Shopify sellers, the fees are presented as a percentage of the transaction’s total value, including surcharges and taxes, according to Meta.
So, for example, if you have a card total transaction cost of $100, then $2.9 will be deducted, leaving you with $97.10.
Now that we’ve covered what you need to know about Facebook Shops let’s look at how you can start setting up your own Shop. This step-by-step guide simplifies the process so you can get started right away. Note that your business will still need to have a Facebook account that’s linked to a Facebook business page. To create one, open your business’ Facebook account and click on “Pages,” then select “Create new Page.” Fill out the form and click “Create Page” once you’re done.
Log into your business page and select “Sell your products” so you can start setting up a Facebook Shop on your page. Alternatively, you can access the Meta Business Suite, click “All tools,” and select “Commerce” to launch the Facebook Commerce Manager. Click “Get started” and choose “Create a shop.”
This window details the process of setting up your Shop via the Commerce Manager. Once you’ve read and understood the process, click Next. If you’re using Shopify or other ecommerce platforms, you can choose “Sync a partner platform” so you can continue the set-up process on your preferred third-party platform. Some of the available options include Shopify, Ecwid, Magento, and BigCommerce.
Otherwise, select “I don’t use these platforms” and continue following the prompts. Note that Facebook Shops may not be available in all regions.
Facebook gives you three options when it comes to checkout methods:
You’ll also need to select the page from which you want to sell. You can select an existing Facebook business page or create a new one. To continue the set-up process, enter your email so you can connect your Shop to a Business Manager Account. This step is crucial as it lets you manage sales, monitor your inventory, and more. If you’ve already created a Facebook Business Account, click said account so that it will be linked to your shop. Otherwise, you’ll need to choose the “Create a new Business Account” option and provide your business information. Note that you will need to have a working email for this, as this is where all notifications and customer emails will be sent.
You’ll then be prompted to create a new catalog of your products. Enter your catalog name and click the checkbox below the “Name your catalog” field to indicate that you agree with the platform’s terms and policies. Afterwards, click “Next”.
Next, you need to complete your shipping and returns details, which will apply to all of your Shop’s products. If there are any changes to your shipping and payment information, you can edit the details after you’ve set up your Shop.
Once done, you’ll be taken to a preview page where you can review your Shop details. Make sure that all the information presented is correct. Then, submit your Shop for review and wait for Facebook to verify your account, which can take anywhere from 7-8 days. Once your account has been successfully verified, you can publish your Shop.
After creating your Shop, you can start managing your catalog, developing your product collections, or customizing your storefront. There are two ways to add products to your Shop: sync with your existing ecommerce platform or manually upload products to your catalog. For the latter, open the Commerce Manager, which you can access via the “Manage Shop” option on your Facebook business Page, and click on “Catalog.”
If you have a smaller inventory, you can choose “Manual” to start adding your items. For businesses with a larger inventory, you can choose “Data feed,” which automatically adds and updates your items, or “Pixel,” which automatically adds products from your ecommerce website.
When adding products to your Shop, make sure that you provide key information, such as the title, description, and price. If you have an ecommerce site, you can also include a link to it. Don’t forget to include high-quality product images that are optimized for mobile. Once done, click “Upload items” so that the products will be published in your Shop.
Open the Commerce Manager to customize your storefront. You can modify your Shop’s layout, change its colors, tweak the button sizes, and more to ensure that your Shop aligns with your branding.
After setting up your Shop and customizing it to fit your branding, you’re now ready to start selling. Here are some tips to help you tap into the full potential of your Facebook Shop:
Setting up a Facebook Shop is a great way to grow your online reach and put your business where your audience is. While the process of creating a Facebook Shop is straightforward, one of the biggest challenges, especially for new sellers, is to find profitable products to sell.
The good news is that there are several solutions you can use for product research. Threecolts offers a suite of solutions for retail vendors and ecommerce businesses. Tactical Arbitrage helps you find profitable products to sell, while ExportYourStore allows you to export and sync your products easily across platforms like Amazon, Etsy, Shopify, and Facebook. Learn more about the different solutions Threecolts offers and how these can transform your online business.
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