It’s no secret that the e-commerce software market is a huge opportunity, with estimated revenues of $6.3 billion by 2023.
When we think of e-commerce technology, the first things that come to mind are either platforms like Amazon and eBay or software such as Shopify. Until recently, social media platforms haven’t jumped on the bandwagon, even though they have hundreds of millions of users who are potential buyers.
That’s changing, though.
In April, Google announced that sellers can list products for free on Google Shopping, and Pinterest added new features for online shopping. On the same tune, Facebook recently launched Facebook Shops to keep up with competitors. Facebook did have a marketplace since 2016 but it was more an alternative to Craigslist than a real e-commerce platform.
Facebook Shops allows sellers to create a store from scratch or connect to existing platforms such as Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, Magento, and OpenCart. Creating a store though is difficult than you would imagine. First, you need to navigate to Business Manager in the Commerce Manager section and provide all kinds of details, including bank account details and State Tax Registration Number (or social security number for individual businesses). Then, there’s another section of Business Manager where products can be added. All this makes Facebook Shops seem much more complicated than other similar tools, which allow users to create a shop in minutes, like Square e-commerce.
On the bright side, the documentation for Commerce Manager and Catalog Manager is quite detailed and it seems that there are lots of things that you can do with your Facebook Shop. For instance, you can use a Facebook Pixel to import and update products from your website.
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It’s too soon to tell how effective Facebook Shop will be. It may be a good alternative for small companies that do not have an online store. Companies that already sell online may also benefit from Facebook’s massive user base. Either way, sellers may need to invest in Facebook Ads to attract buyers.
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