Facebook has now added a new Shop section to its app, enabling customers to find new businesses and products, while also giving those businesses a new way to showcase their products. In this new section of the app, consumers can find products from their favorite businesses, discover new places to shop, and make purchases, all in the same place. The addition is a response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the fact that more people are now shopping online.
After launching its mobile website in 2006, Facebook released the app for the iPhone in 2008, a year after the iPhone itself was first released. It’s just one of the apps that Facebook owns -- the others include the Messenger app, which is a separate app for the Facebook chat feature, along with Instagram and WhatsApp. The main Facebook app has all the same features as the desktop version with users able to post statuses, as well as photos and videos, and scroll through the app to discover other content. In addition to viewing posts from their friends and family, the Facebook app also allows people to follow pages dedicated to celebrities, TV shows and other media. The Menu section is a collection of various pages within the app, including Gaming, Marketplace, and now Shop.
Facebook confirmed the new section in a blog posting, explaining how it recently began testing Shop in the US and now the plan is to make Shop available to any eligible business, while also adding new features. These features are set to include new design layouts, which impact how potential customers can view products, along with allowing sellers to create Shops more easily. Facebook also explained its plan to include a new messaging button, in order to allow businesses to connect more readily with their customers. The messaging button will utilize the Messenger app or WhatsApp to simulate the experience of shopping in a physical store, as it lets people have a conversation with a salesperson, the same way they could with a traditional shopping experience. The company has also been testing a 'Live Shopping' feature in both Facebook and Instagram apps, where businesses will be able to easily set up a Facebook Live to showcase their products and interact with their customers.
Navigating The New Facebook Shop Section
To find the Shop section, open up the Facebook app and tap on the Menu icon -- those three lines in the bottom-right corner of the screen. Then scroll down to find the Shop button. Tapping on that brings the potential shopper to the Shop page, which features an Explore Brands option right up top, showing brands they may already be familiar with, ranging from beauty and cosmetic brands like Manic Panic, to jewelry stores like Zales. From here, shoppers can also follow brands that they like or want to see more from. Scrolling further down allows the user to discover even more brands, along with the Explore Collections feature. This showcases certain collections from various shops -- for example, here people can find the Essential Oils collection from Juniper Ridge. There is also a “posts you may like” feature, which seems to highlight brands that Facebook thinks the consumer might be interested in.
Making a purchase within the Shop section of the app is very simple. Users can simply tap on the brand or collection they want to shop from, and scroll through the products to find whatever they like. When they find a product they want to buy, all they have to do is tap on that product. This will bring them to a product page, which not only features the option to buy, but also shows a detailed description, along with product ratings, the shipping and return policy for the shop, and store information. To chat with someone from the shop, just tap on the Menu icon -- this time located in the top-right corner -- which will bring up the Send Message option. The ease with which consumers can navigate this feature means that shopping online has become even more straightforward. This also means people are more likely to spend even more time in the Facebook app, which is important for the company during a time when people are using their phones more than ever.
Source: Facebook