Facebook Shops Launched: How to create it With Commerce Manager

Do you use Facebook business Page to sell your products?

Well, most businesses do.

Facebook Shops is a new feature to make your selling easier through Facebook and Instagram.

Launched on 19th May 2020, Facebook Shops let businesses of all sizes to create a single online store for customers. This store can be accessed on both Facebook and Instagram.

It lets sell directly through their Facebook page or take the visitors to their website. Facebook Shops is powered by third party eCommerce services such as Woo, BigCommerce, and Shopify.

Setting up a Facebook Shop is easy and free.

Businesses can list the products they want to feature and then personalize their store’s appearance with a cover image and colors that represent their brand.

Facebook Shops is available for all vendors, irrespective of their size or budget. They can have an online store and connect with customers anytime.

Customers can access Facebook Shops on a vendor’s Facebook Page or Instagram profile, or through stories or ads. From there, they can explore the products, save items they liked, and place an order—either on the vendor’s website or without checking out the app.

With Facebook Shops, businesses can also provide customer support through messaging on WhatsApp, Messenger, and Instagram Direct. These apps let the customer track deliveries, get help, and ask queries.

Facebook is also looking to facilitate the purchasing directly from a WhatsApp chat, Messenger, or Instagram Direct.

How to Create Facebook Shops using Commerce Manager?

If you have a previous business account as Facebook Page Shop, you can easily add this section. Otherwise, you can use the Commerce Manager.

Commerce Manager is a platform to create a store and manage sales on Facebook and Instagram. This tool lets you choose where you want your buyers to complete their order—on your website, on Facebook, or on Instagram with checkout.

Commerce Manager has many tools and settings such as—

• Creating and managing a Facebook shop and collections.
• Checking the summary of sales, catalogs, and suggested actions.
• Viewing and managing items in a catalog.
• Discovering advertising options.
• Letting customers buying directly on Facebook and Instagram (for businesses with checkout feature).

Here’s How to Set up Facebook Shops Using Commerce Manager.

Commerce Manager lets you create a store for direct selling through Facebook page (shop with checkout) or take the customers to your shopping site from the page. The steps are different for both purposes.

Here we will explain the steps for both objectives.

First of all, let’s find out how to create Facebook Shops with Commerce Messenger if you want to send buyers to your website to complete the purchase.

Before getting started, make sure to create a commerce account in Commerce Manager.

To create a store on Facebook, you should be a Business Manager Admin and the owner of your Facebook Page. You are also required to have Manage Page permissions for the catalog in Business Manager.

For setting a shop on Instagram, you should be a Business Manager admin and own an Instagram business account, Facebook Page, and catalog. You also need Manage Page permissions to connect the Instagram business account with the Facebook Page. Manage catalog permissions are also required for the catalog.

Set Up Your Store:

This requires you to use your PC to create your shop in Commerce Manager.

• Visit Commerce Manager
• Choose to Get Started to visit the Create your Shop Page.
• Under the Choose a Way to Sell part, choose Create a Shop, and click Get Started.
• In the Assets section, upgrade your shop or click +Create a shop.
• Move to the Start Setting up your shop section and select Your Website. Choose the Get Started option.
• Choose your business section shows a list of Facebook Pages owned by you. Choose the business you would like to add to your store top. Click NEXT.
• Fill up an account name and choose a business account as you enter the Account details section.
• With the Where people can view your shop section, you can choose Facebook or Instagram to create your shop. Or you can choose both.
• The Catalogue section lets you chose an existing catalog or created a new one. Choose NEXT.
• Check your shop details, review, and accept the Seller Performance and Accountability Policies. Click Create Your Shop.

Once you set up your shop, you can create a collection of 6 to 30 products. Besides, you can personalize the store with accent colors. It will take 24 hours to publish your shop as Facebook reviews and approves your collection.

How to Create Account If You Want to Let People Shop Directly from Facebook or Instagram?

Commerce Manager also lets you set up a store that allows buyers to shop directly from Facebook or Instagram instead of sending them to another website. This is known as a shop with a checkout. Anyone can explore and buy your products instantly from your Facebook and Instagram accounts. However, this feature is available in the USA and to a limited number of vendors for the time being (as of October 2020)

Before you get started, make sure to sign in to your Facebook account.

• Visit Commerce Manager
• Choose Get Started to visit the Create your Shop Page
• Under the Choose a Way to Sell part, choose Create a Shop, and click Get Started.
• In the Assets section, upgrade your shop or click +Create a shop.
• Click Get Started for either creating a shop with Commerce Manager or with an e-commerce platform. If you want to choose an e-commerce platform, choose the one from the list. To use Commerce Manager, select Facebook or Instagram.
• Review the things required to complete a Commerce Manager account and click Next.
• Provide business information; add products and settings; set up Payouts; Submit Instagram account for review (if you use Instagram). Check all the information and make changes. Click Finish setup.

When you are done with the process, visit Commerce Manager to handle your catalog, get educated on the selling tolls and other policies.

It takes up to two weeks for the Shops tab to occur in Commerce Manager while Facebook assesses your account.

Once it occurs, you can add a collection that can include two or more products, personalize your store, and publish your shop. The customers will see your shop once Facebook reviews and approve your collection, which is done within 24 hours.

Some Other Important Features by Facebook for Ecommerce Businesses

Facebook Shops is an exciting feature launched by Facebook to help online businesses. As an added bonus, there are some features provided by Facebook to maximize your sales potential. They can play an important role in your eCommerce campaign management over Facebook.

Lookalike Audiences:

Facebook tells that its “A Lookalike Audience” facility can help “reach new people who are likely to be interested in your business because they’re similar to your best existing customers.”

It is a useful feature for advertisers to maximize their reach by targeting customers with similar interests as their exiting buyers on Facebook and Instagram.

Instagram Ads with Product Tags:

Instagram has been involved in the testing of product tags for organic Shopping posts. Marketers can then use these posts for promotion as ads. Now, they will be able to directly make ads with product tags in Ads Manager without requiring to visit the organic post way first. White dots will be used to show product tags. Product information, including the name and price display, when these dots are clicked. Product tags can also be incorporated to photo, video, and carousel ad formats.

Insights:

Insights feature in Commerce Manager is useful to see how your sales, products, and other things are performing on Facebook and Instagram. Besides, it helps determine how people interact with your products. Make sure to check your insights regularly to see the trends and performance of your shop and offerings.

EXPERT OPINIONS

 “We’ve seen live shopping take off in other parts of the world. The pandemic has really changed behavior from a consumer perspective, so we’re moving as fast as we can to bring out these tools to help [businesses respond].”

• Vishal Shah, VP of Product at Instagram

“We really hope that our commerce solutions help businesses not only survive but thrive during coming months, and adapt to new consumer behavior,”

• Layla Amjadi, Product Lead at Instagram Shopping

“So it makes sense for Facebook to make the purchase process as easy as possible from those profiles. From a business perspective, the obvious goal is to drive more advertising. But it’s also worth remembering that the pandemic’s economic fallout will likely kill off many small business – including the ones that post and advertise on Facebook. So the company has a stake in helping those businesses survive in any way it can.”

• Anthony Ha, a senior writer at TechCrunch

“The one thing that we haven’t always done particularly well in the past is provide data that’s actionable for merchants.  It’s one thing to share a bunch of data, and it’s another thing to show data that actually could result in product changes — like changes to your Shops, in terms of how it looks or how it’s organized. Most of the [new insights] will be centered around the performance of the Shops. “

• George Lee, Director of Product Management George Lee at Facebook

Case Study: Using Facebook Shop to Increase Case Study

Can Facebook Shops really help you boost your sales?

Well, it all takes the right strategy. This case study of a Thai beauty product will tell you all.

(Note: Brand name hasn’t been given for privacy issues)

About the Business:

This Thai fashion brand has been selling women outfits. They decided to take their products to more customers with Facebook Shop. This is more important as they don’t have an eCommerce website.

Objectives:

• Showcasing more products to Facebook followers
• Selling directly without having them to click to other eCommerce platforms where their products were listed.

Strategy:

• Setting up Facebook Store
• Targeting the female audience
• Running 5 Facebook ad campaigns a month.
• Using high-quality product photography
• Using social media influencer (within their budget)
• Making quick videos on styling and sizing guide
• Using snappier captions
• Running Facebook Live Videos and Stories
• Letting the customers tag their photos in their community tab.
• Tagging other businesses in their shoots such as photographer so that they can get a mention by other businesses
• Encouraging customers to drop reviews
• Providing customer support and responding quickly to the customers’ comments.

 The Results

• With over 2500 product views and 400 clicks, 80 purchases were made directly through the Facebook page within a month.
• 50 % of new followers increased.
• 8X return on ad spend

A QUICK RECAP…

Facebook Shops is a wonderful opportunity you should leverage to boost your sales. Creating Facebook Shops is easy and straightforward. If you have a previous business account as Facebook Page Shop, you can easily add this section. New sellers can create a store using Commerce Manage for letting the customers shop directly through their Facebook page or take them to their website to complete the purchase. To make the most of selling with Facebook Shops, it is recommended to use essential features such as Lookalike audiences, Instagram ads, and insights.

Once you set up your Facebook Shops, make sure to use the right strategies like adding high-quality images of your products and other things to see success.

Hope this information will help you create a successful Facebook Shops account. What do you think? Don’t hesitate to drop your opinion on the comment box given below!