When Facebook created the Facebook Store, many e-commerce businesses were excited for the opportunity to leverage Facebook’s popularity to reach more consumers and sell more products. Now that this feature has been available for an extended amount of time, is it really worth it? Are Facebook users really using it to purchase products?
What is a Facebook Store?
Facebook’s shopping platform is a two-fold system: one is like Craigslist, where users can sell their items to other users, the other is where businesses can upload products to a shoppable retail storefront. These items can also be found on the Facebook Marketplace. Within the marketplace, items for sale by users do not have traditional e-commerce payment options, while Facebook Shops are a storefront where users can complete the entire purchase process within Facebook.
How to Setup a Facebook Store?
If you have an e-commerce platform like Bigcommerce or Shopify you may be able to integrate from there. To set up a Facebook shop from scratch you’ll need to click the “Shop” section on the side menu of your business page (if you don’t see this button you might need to change your Page’s template to a retail store). You’ll then select the currency your shop will accept and the checkout method. You can choose from three checkout options: a message to contact you, a redirect to your eCommerce website, or an option to checkout right inside Facebook through Stripe. Once you enter your business’s address and email you’ll be prompted to specify product titles, upload product photos, and list the description, price, category, and shipping methods.
Is a Facebook store worth the additional work?
This depends on how easily your website integrates with Facebook Shop. Some e-commerce businesses feature a Facebook Shop API, meaning that the platform easily allows users to create Facebook stores by pushing products directly from their website to Facebook. It doesn’t hurt to have a Facebook Shop in addition to an e-commerce website, but by no means is the Facebook shop an end-all platform for selling online. If anything, this platform can help you capture additional sales or help your sales funnel. If you run Facebook ads (which you should be) some ads can be run only if you have a Facebook Shop, but these results can still be achieved with normal conversion ads.
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