So say you’re running your pottery business out of a local shop, suddenly, a global pandemic strikes and you’re forced to close down. What would you do in that situation? Would you look for work? Or find a way to continue to sell your products? If you chose the second option, chances are you’re going to want to start selling online.
Lucky for you, the market has heard global demand for e-commerce. One of the newest offerings is Facebook’s new take on online commerce, Facebook Shops. You can now literally turn your Facebook business page into an e-commerce webpage and look to generate tons of traffic from your other sources of online presence.
Shopify and WOOCommerce act like engines for Facebook Shops. To discover, interact with, and complete the transaction between you and your buyers is their primary goal. They don’t compete with one another, it’s not a Facebook vs Shopify situation. If you have a Shopify store already, Facebook will automatically derive the data from your existing e-commerce platform and optimize it to sell on Facebook. Obviously there will be tweaking needed, but the same can be said for connecting your Facebook Shop via WOOCommerce.
Why Facebook Shops Is so Valuable
Shops lets you reach out to your already established follower base on your business page. It cuts out the need to grab attention and presents it to people who you’ve already won over in one way or another. Not to mention, Shops can connect with Instagram’s Shop, and so there are more platforms to create a network of connections that redirect people interested in your business across a multitude of your existing platforms so you can start selling right away.
Facebook Shops opens a unique way of communicating your offerings to your consumers, it solidifies your offerings and presents it to your audience and consumers simply with an image, price, and description. Your buyers will simply click and be redirected to a page powered by various e-commerce platforms like Shopify where consumers can complete the transaction. Adding items to your Shop on Facebook is not challenging at all. Mind you, it doesn’t necessarily have to be a tangible product you’re selling, it can be a service as well. It can even be a way to get people to download your app.
Finding the Facebook Shop Functionality
Once you’re on your business page interface, just look below the home tab on the left. It’s that easy!
While we’re on the topic of UI, the big blue Shop Now button is fully customizable for your business and changes based on your business, whether you provide services or goods tangible or intangible. Naturally, you’ll be given your options to promote your shop through Facebook Ads which, again, means more content development and opportunity to foster a stronger presence for your brand on the Internet.
How You Support Your Consumers on Shops
Providing seamless and valuable customer support is also what Shops want to empower and that’s exactly why it allows consumers to reach out to the business directly via Facebook Messenger, Instagram direct message, and even Whatsapp messenger. We cannot stress how valuable of a feature this is. To be personally connected with someone from the business to answer your question no matter how specific is amazing in building long term consumers who will convert you to their top of mind.
We live in an era of engagement, where most of our interactions in a given day happen online. Facebook Shops is giving everyone the ability to enjoy shopping from their home in a time where small businesses are struggling to thrive.
Need more help navigating this exciting new avenue of e-commerce? Contact us now to speak with one of our e-commerce specialists.