Facebook Shops: Another form of social commerce

Have you heard of Facebook Shops or Facebook Store? It is a valuable tool that this social network has available and that can increase your sales if you learn to incorporate it into your business properly.

Facebook has always existed to try to connect and get closer to everything you truly love and like and that includes everything from your friends or family to your favorite athletes, models or musicians; But it also connects you with products, brands or businesses of your choice.

In addition, since the existence of Facebook, people have taken the initiative to use the application as a platform to buy and sell products, publicize their services and start what is now known as social commerce and something that we consider completely normal.

Today, particularly with the situation in the world and the closure of many physical stores, the e-commerce business sounds tempting and at the same time a relief so that many companies can continue operating to a certain extent. Facebook Shops are an essential part of this opportunity that many companies have used to market.

How can we use the Facebook Page Shop?

Through Facebook Shops Facebook has sought that companies can be more fluid and that they can train anyone to use the application to their advantage, regardless of whether the owner manages the account of a small company or is it a global brand.

Facebook Shops allows people to buy and sell quickly and easily in a virtual store that can be accessed from Facebook or Instagram. Here, companies can choose the products they want to include in their catalog, and then customize the look of their store with a cover image and accent colors that showcase their brand. It's something any salesperson, no matter their size or budget, can do to place their business online and connect with customers wherever and whenever it's convenient for them.

These stores are easy to find directly on the company's Facebook page, on the Instagram profile and also through WhatsApp. They can also be found through stories or advertisements, and interested people can browse the full collection of products posted in the store, save for later, or place an order, either on the company's website or directly on Facebook. Shops if you have enabled payment in the United States.

Facebook Shops Settings

Some of the functions that Facebook Shops allow are:

Add products and their descriptions and relevant information.
Section and add inventory of products in the store.
Divide the products into collections.
Easy communication with your clients through messages.
Obtain statistics about your products.

Now that you know the benefits of Facebook stores, it's time to configure yours. You can guide yourself with these simple steps to do it:

Enable the store on Facebook: You can do this from your Facebook Page in the "Settings" option where you will find the "Templates and Tabs" section and there one called "Store".
Add the first product manually as an example to enable functionality. Then you will have to delete it. You can do it in the store tab that says "Add Product".
Complete the basic product information and save. Facebook will then verify that everything meets the site's rules and is in order and will approve it.
If you want to add a product catalog, go to the Facebook catalog manager and select the catalog that was created with the product you added manually.
Click on the tab "Product data sources" and then "Add data source" and finally "Add product".
Then select the option “Use Data Feeds” and next.
Choose the update form as "Set a Schedule".
Open the administrator from another tab and enter the Sales Channels section and then Instagram Shop.
Press the button "Generate product catalog" and take the link that is generated.
Go back to the commercial administrator of Facebook and paste that URL that you copied in the “Add a Data Feed URL” option.
Schedule automatic updates, it can be every day at 7:00 am for example.
Choose the currency in which you will sell your products and press "Start Upload".

Upcoming Releases

This summer, starting in the US, they will present Instagram Shop, a new way to discover and buy products that you love on Instagram Explore and also later this year, a new store tab will be added in the navigation bar so you can access the Instagram Store with just a touch.

Something that will also be seen shortly are the live videos to sell, that is, the possibility of being able to buy products in real time from the live broadcasts. They will appear at the bottom of the video so that people can make the purchase from there.