The Facebook Shop is a new feature on Facebook that has emerged to provide meaningful support to businesses affected by COVID-19. With the current global health crisis, consumer habits have inevitably changed.

Facebook Shop was presented by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg as a solution to support businesses in their e-commerce turn accelerated by COVID-19. With this new tool, companies can now offer their products directly on their Facebook and Instagram business pages.

Facebook Shop also wants to allow users to order via Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp. In order to facilitate the conversion, Facebook Shop also aims to create a feature to buy live during Facebook or Instagram Lives.

This free feature is relevant from a convention and sales increase perspective, as it allows customers to buy directly on the app without having to go to the company’s website.

Facebook Shop is a relevant tool for companies that want to create an ecosystem across several different platforms like Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp. By uploading their catalogues directly on the Facebook app and creating a personalized online store, companies can monetize consumer engagement from their various social platforms while ensuring profitability from their advertising efforts.

It is pertinent to ask ourselves if the time spent creating a Facebook Shop is worth it. With the drastic change in consumer habits on the different social platforms, one has to wonder if these trends will remain similar once everything goes back to normal.

One of these trends, the rise of e-commerce, was already present before the arrival of the pandemic. This reality has only been amplified by the restrictions and risks associated with COVID-19.

So the investment is well worth it because, despite an inevitable resurgence in direct store sales, having an effective digital storefront for your products will remain an essential asset in ensuring you meet your sales and engagement goals.

Initially, the Facebook Shop with the option to pay directly on the platforms was only available to a small number of organizations in the United States.

However, since its launch in 2020, the feature has been growing steadily and is now available in Canada since February 2021.

Facebook Shop should be considered an effective solution to overcome some obstacles that emerged from the global COVID-19 pandemic. It allows businesses to have a virtual store on their social platforms for free.

This ease of access encourages conversion and allows for a more significant, even global, market reach. Several features implemented by Facebook Shop allow for the creation of better relationships with customers while also obtaining relevant statistics on them that can be used to create more accurate and efficient advertising.

• Have my sales been affected since the start of the pandemic?
• Do I have a Facebook and Instagram business page?
• Would offering my consumers a virtual showcase on my social platforms be relevant?