Let’s start with the numbers. And huge ones! Facebook already has over 2.4 billion users worldwide, of which 1.6 billion use the app every day. In turn, 70% of the adult population of the world has a bank account, which means, simplifying, that the largest social platform has a minimum of 1.7 billion people who can be called potential customers of hundreds of thousands of online stores that are just opening on Facebook!
Facebook Shops is a solution that replaces the Marketplace created in 2017. This panel allowed to add classified ads, and due to its restrictions, it could at most threaten OLX and the ads section in newspapers. However, his successor is from a different planet. First of all, it allows you to create a fully functional online store for free. Adding products will be easy, and personalized product cards can be displayed with no effort. Secondly, Shops will use, e.g. Messenger, to allow a potential customer to contact the store, and ask about the products’ availability. Thirdly, shortly it will be possible to finalize the order without leaving Facebook (for now, this option will only work in the US and operate on similar mechanics as Instagram Checkout). Fourth, knowing Facebook, stores will get a vast set of data for in-depth analytics, insights and improving the efficiency of operations. Also, the advertising data, because sixthly – the full range of Facebook advertising possibilities begs to be used to catch the attention of new customers. Seventh, let’s remember the scale – it is literally a window display on the street walked every day by billions of potential customers.
Everything sounds exciting and promising, especially since the timing is not accidental – Facebook Shops is the answer to the problems of medium and small companies that have been severely hit by COVID-19 and all those who, after experiencing lockdown, concluded that business, big or small, should bet on omnichannel and stand firmly on two legs. Just in case.
