Mark Zuckerberg has just announced Facebook Shops. A new and free feature that allows small businesses to set up a single online store for customers to access on both Facebook and Instagram. The company is starting to roll out Facebook Shops this Tuesday, and it will be more widely available in the coming months.
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According to the company’s press release, businesses can choose the products they want to feature from their catalog and then customize the look and feel of their shop with a cover image and accent colors that showcase their brand. “This means any seller, no matter their size or budget, can bring their business online and connect with customers wherever and whenever it’s convenient for them”, says Facebook.
“If you visit someone’s shop, you’ll be able to see that small business’s story, see their featured products, and buy them in our apps. I think this particularly important right now because so many small businesses are moving online to deal with the economic fallout from Covid-19, ” said Zuckerberg on his Facebook’s page.
Zuckerberg also said that Facebook has been working with partners like Shopify, BigCommerce, WooCommerce, Channel Advisor, CedCommerce, Cafe24, Tienda Nube and Feedonomics “so that small businesses can easily integrate into a strong, open ecosystem of tools to help them manage their customer journey end-to-end, and it’s up to the business to decide what level of integration they want.”
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He also said that, in the near future, Shops will use Facebook’s AI and augmented reality tech to create better shopping experiences. “We’ll automatically identify and tag products in feeds so people can easily click-through to purchase when they find things they like. Small businesses will also be able to personalize their storefronts to first show products that are most relevant to you and use augmented reality to let you virtually try on things like sunglasses, lipstick or makeup to see how they might look on you before buying, or what furniture might look like in your room”, added the Facebook cofounder.
