Selling products directly on Facebook is easier than ever thanks to Facebook Shops. This feature allows businesses to set up an online storefront directly within Facebook and Instagram to showcase their products or services to over 2 billion monthly active users on the platforms.
With Facebook Shops, businesses can create digital catalogs to highlight the products they sell, making it simple for customers to browse, learn about, and purchase items seamlessly within the Facebook or Instagram apps. Selling products via Facebook Shops comes with many advantages and this guide will explain everything you need to know.
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How Facebook Shops Work
The Facebook Shops feature functions similarly to an ecommerce store within the Facebook and Instagram ecosystems. It allows businesses to curate a digital catalog of their products which followers can easily browse. Customers can see all products, prices, variations, and more.
When a user expresses interest in a product, they can click straight through to the merchant’s website via an integrated checkout link to complete the purchase. This keeps the buying experience quick and seamless while moving shoppers off Facebook to the seller’s own site.
Facebook does not process payments directly. Instead, merchants handle payment processing on their independent websites through their chosen ecommerce platform or payment gateway. Facebook simply allows merchants to advertise their inventory to a wide relevant audience and drive traffic to the seller’s site.
Benefits of Selling Products on Facebook
There are many unique advantages to setting up a Facebook Shop compared to traditional online stores. These include:
- Massive reach: Over 2 billion people actively use Facebook each month. Instagram also has over 1 billion monthly active users. This huge integrated audience allows merchants to get their products seen by more potential buyers.
- Advertising integration: Merchants can run targeted ads directly to their Facebook and Instagram catalogs. This makes promoting products to interested shoppers even more streamlined.
- Seamless experience: Allowing users to browse and find products within the apps creates a seamless, omnichannel experience. Customers can explore merchandise and complete purchases easily without leaving Facebook or Instagram.
- Sales tracking: The integrated Facebook Pixel allows sellers to track activity and optimize their shops and product ads for more sales.
- Universal checkout: Merchants can enable automated checkout across Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp for maximum conversion flexibility.
For small ecommerce businesses or even larger brands, setting up a Facebook Shop presents an incredible opportunity to reach more consumers. Sellers also don’t have to pay any fees or commissions to Facebook when products are purchased through these digital storefronts.
How to Set Up a Facebook Shop
Setting up a Facebook Shop catalog takes just a few steps. Here is what is required:
- Facebook business Page: This serves as the base for the digital storefront. Both Facebook Shops and Instagram Shops connect to Pages.
- Facebook Commerce Manager: This central hub manages the product catalogs, checkout links, Pixel integrations and more across Facebook and Instagram.
- Product catalog: Creating digital listings for all products or services that will be advertised across the storefronts.
- Checkout link: Integrating the checkout URL where customers can process payments on the merchant’s independent website.
Once these key elements are connected, merchants can customize the look and feel of their Facebook and Instagram shops. They can add shop branding, descriptions, categories, collections and other content to create a seamless native browsing and shopping experience for customers.
Sellers must also follow Facebook commerce policies just like any ecommerce business operating ads or sales on Facebook. However there are no subscription fees or commissions to open a shop.
Step-by-Step Guide to Setting Up Facebook Shops
Here is a detailed walkthrough on how to get a Facebook Shop live across Facebook and Instagram:
Choose a Business Page
The first step is to select the Facebook Business Page that will host the Facebook Shop. Typically this is a seller’s core brand page with the largest audience. Multiple Pages can link to the same shop backend in Commerce Manager, but beginning with one helps simplify setup.
- Navigate to the Facebook Page that will represent the brand’s digital storefront
- Click “Settings” from the left sidebar
- Select “Shops” under the “Commerce” section
This connects the Page to the centralized Commerce Manager used for managing product listings, checkout and more.
Configure the Commerce Manager
The Commerce Manager acts as the central hub connecting products across Facebook and Instagram. Here sellers can add item listings, customize branding, integrate payment platforms and track sales.
To access Commerce Manager:
- Click “Set Up Shop” on the Shops settings page from the previous section
- Alternatively navigates to Facebook Commerce Manager directly
- Select the same Facebook Page chosen above to serve as the storefront
Take time explore all of the configurable shop settings within Commerce Manager. This includes critical elements like:
- Shop name and branding: Customize names, logos, descriptions and other branding elements.
- Payment provider: Connect an ecommerce platform or payment gateway to enable checkout.
- Facebook Pixel: Integrate the shop with a Facebook Pixel to enable tracking and optimization. Pixels play a key role in product advertising.
Configure these elements first so the digital shopfront looks professional and functions seamlessly from the start.
Create a Product Catalog
The most important task is adding all of the products or services that will be advertised across the Facebook and Instagram shops. Sellers create digital catalog listings for each individual item.
Creating clean organized product catalogs improves the shopping experience. Helpful details like product titles, descriptions, images, pricing and variants go a long way.
To add catalog items:
- Select “Catalogs” from the sidebar menu in Commerce Manager
- Choose whether to create a single unified catalog or multiple categories
- Click the “+” button to manually upload product details one by one
- Use the data importer to quickly bulk upload listings from a spreadsheet
Be sure to fully complete all product details like titles, descriptions, images, attributes, inventory levels and pricing. Accuracy is critical for a smooth user experience.
Repeat this listing process across all merchandise available for sale through the Facebook and Instagram shops. Keeping catalogs updated with the latest products ensures customers always see what is currently available to purchase.
Connect Checkout and Process Payments
The final crucial step is establishing the checkout process to handle payments. When customers find a product they wish to buy through Facebook Shops, they click a checkout link to purchase the item directly from the merchant’s independent website.
To enable this:
- Select the “Settings” tab in the Commerce Manager sidebar
- Expand the “Checkout URLs” section
- Enable automatic checkout and configure the checkout URL
- Or manually integrate custom checkout links by product catalog
This checkout link connects shoppers to the merchant’s existing ecommerce platform to complete the transaction, submit shipping details and process payments.
For example online sellers may connect checkout to their:
- Shopify store checkout pages
- WooCommerce or other shopping cart flows
- Custom online storefront and payment gateway
Facebook Shops can advertise products but the merchant handles payment processing independently through their own websites.
Expanding Reach Across Facebook and Instagram
Once the Facebook Shop backend is configured in Commerce Manager, merchants can increase exposure of their product catalogs across Facebook and Instagram seamlessly.
The same catalog setup powers storefronts across both platforms for consistent omnichannel commerce. Expand reach by:
- Enabling Instagram shopping: Easily port product catalogs from Facebook over to Instagram profiles, feeds, stories and ads. Add the View Shop tab to profiles and tag products in content.
- Running product catalog ads: Create ads in Ads Manager that dynamically advertise catalog listings from Commerce Manager to target audiences as carousels or slideshows.
- Promoting the Facebook shop: Run ads driving traffic specifically to the new Facebook storefront Tab on the business Page for higher intent visitors ready to browse and purchase.
- Retargeting visitors: Use Facebook Pixel data to create custom audiences and tailor product ads to those who already engaged with shop content for conversions.
Start small by testing product listings and offers to follower audiences or lookalike consumers. Experiment across placement types and creative to determine optimal performance, cost per result and return on ad spend from the Facebook commerce channel.
Top Tips for Selling Successfully on Facebook
Launching a shop on Facebook makes merchandise discoverable across its apps but merchants must still invest in showcasing their brand and products properly. Here are some top tips for selling more goods:
- Tell a consistent brand story: Help visitors understand who the merchant is, what need the products meet and why they are worth the asking price. Build a connection first before purely selling.
- Highlight what makes products special: Don’t just list item specs and details. Bring products to life highlighting seller differentiators like materials, craftsmanship, warranty programs or sustainability initiatives that make them compelling purchases relative to competitors.
- Show product versatility and use cases: Demonstrate all the scenarios in which catalog products deliver value rather than assuming visitors will understand offhand based on static images alone. The better the storytelling, the higher perceived worth.
- Optimizing listing photography: Choose photography angles and environments strategically to make products shine. Ensure imagery looks bright and enticing with the item clearly visible rather than using generic stock photos.
- Keep listings in sync: Keeping Commerce Manager catalogs in sync with live inventory on independent ecommerce platforms prevents overselling of out-of-stock items or misleading customers.
- Offer special discounts or sales exclusives: Occasional deals, bundles, 3-for-2 offers and coupons can incentivize customers browsing the social commerce shops to pull the trigger on awareness stage interest.
Selling on social requires just as much effort as other ecommerce channels when it comes to visually merchandising products. Present them favorably and advertise offerings creatively to drive conversions.
Is Selling Products on Facebook Right for Your Business?
For ecommerce brands, service providers or really any business with something to sell – setting up shop on Facebook and Instagram represents a major growth opportunity.
The platforms grant merchants incredible ability to present curated product collections or service offerings in a visually rich, seamless native experience. And tapping into such massive existing platform audiences makes expanding reach highly efficient.
However, as with adopting any new sales system or technology, businesses must carefully evaluate if selling products through Facebook aligns with their business model, target markets and capabilities.
Key questions brands should consider before launching social commerce include:
- Are products suited for digital sales? Validate if inventory availability, logistics processes and profit margins enable profitable social selling at scale.
- Are target audiences active on Facebook? Evaluate if current and prospective customer personas overlap with Facebook & Instagram’s user demographics to ensure adequate addressable reach exists.
- Can ecommerce operations support more sales volume? Audit if fulfillment processes provide sufficient bandwidth to handle upticks in order volume driven by greater product visibility and advertising across social channels.
- Are product listings merchandised effectively? Honestly assess if brands have the photography, copywriting and video content needed to creatively showcase products digitally in a premium attractive manner.
- Are analytics and data governance up to par? Selling via social requires connecting platforms to website data and inventory systems. Ensure tracking and integrations enable transparency.
Weigh the unique costs, risks and dedicated efforts involved against the sizable new revenue potential. Configure Facebook shopping catalogs, creative and spending appropriately based on capabilities.
When brands determine the timing and circumstances are right to test social commerce, Facebook Shops provide an unrivaled ecosystem for product discovery and driving conversions.
The Future of Social Commerce on Facebook
Facebook will undoubtedly continue expanding and enhancing shopping functionality across their apps. The platforms are already ubiquitous in everyday digital lifestyles. Allowing brands to showcase and sell products seamlessly within that environment provides extreme value.
While adoption among both sellers and consumers continues ramping up, expect constant evolution of social commerce capabilities like:
- More interactive shopfronts – Allowing sellers to showcase products using next-gen VR/AR and video formats inside the native experience.
- Expanded global capabilities – Adding more international payment providers, localized experiences and global shipping/logistics integrations.
- Evolution of livestream shopping – Live video streams already enable real-time limited quantity flash sales alongside influencers. Their interactivity and urgency can drive impulse purchases.
- Tighter advertisement integration – Dynamic creative, smart recommendations and shopper retargeting through ads will better personalize shopping across the platforms’ full scope of ad products.
- Enhanced order management & fulfillment – Closer eBay/Amazon-like connection of order tracking, inventory syncing and logistics processes between merchants and platform backends.
Facebook will position itself at the forefront as social platforms become retail storefronts. Getting in early as a seller allows brands to test, learn and optimize their approach in preparation for an embedded future world of digital omni-channel shopping.
Conclusion
Selling products through shop storefronts on Facebook and Instagram provides merchants incredible opportunities to showcase offerings in front of massively engaged platform audiences.
Setup may involve some initial heavy lifting – integrating payment systems, configuring product catalogs, creating compelling branding and more. However the visibility and revenue potential easily justify the investment, especially given the platforms’ advertising capabilities.
As customer shopping habits shift increasingly online, getting a head start on showcasing wares through social channels allows brands to get ahead.
Carefully considering capabilities, building process infrastructure, creating premium digital experiences for products and running structured tests will enable sellers of all sizes to capitalize on social commerce.
Consult this guide during every step from evaluating readiness to executing campaigns. Selling successfully on Facebook takes both technological integration and creative marketing finesse. But brands that lean into the platforms and establish an early presence will gain long term competitive advantage.
The future of digital retail is social. Is your brand ready to meet consumers where they already spend their time?