Facebook has announced a new tool for businesses to use to sell their products on the Facebook social media platform.
Facebook Shops is aimed to be used by small businesses who are needing to switch to online services quickly due to the COVID-19 restrictions. Marketplace is a similar selling/purchasing tool from Facebook however, it only allowed Facebook users to sell usually secondhand goods to each other.
Facebook Shops will be aimed for businesses and may overpower big players in the e-commerce game like Amazon if successful.
Facebook Shops will enable businesses to set up a single online store accessible via both Facebook and Instagram with a checkout feature that will enable in-app purchases.
Facebook Shops will be a free feature for small businesses to use. Facebook works based on the number of advertisements they get, so providing a tool that will work well for businesses for free will, in turn, help Facebook with an increasing demand for Facebook ads.
