Answer
Dec 19, 2020 - 06:58 PM
Great question. First, I'll start by saying that Facebook Shops and Facebook Marketplace are two different features (or products) on the Facebook platform.
The Marketplace is like Craigslist of OfferUp and allows you to list one-off products for sale. No one I've heard of has used it to build a multi-million dollar business.
Shops, on the other hand, is supposed to allow you to build a self-contained store. Announced with great fanfare in June, the jury is still out on how effective or widely used they will be. Facebook clearly wants to grab a bigger slice of the ecommerce market as Covid-19 has accelerated online shopping. According to the Economist, during Covid-19, ecommerce grew as much in 8 weeks as in the previous 5 years.
The idea is that people should be able to browse, checkout and purchase products without ever leaving Facebook i.e. they do not have to click through to the company's website to complete a purchase. In theory, any time you reduce the number of steps to a purchase you get higher conversion rates and so Shops should increase sales.
Shops also integrates with all the major ecommerce platforms, and as you state in your question, it integrates will all major ecommerce platforms.
Have there been successes?
Daily Steals Checkout on Facebook
Based on some Googling, I couldn't find much. But on Facebook's site they talk about a company called Daily Steals that used Marketplace (not Shops) in the way that Shops is intended to be used and got the following results: 5x more sales than usual, 2x better conversion rate.
Our recommendation:
Since it doesn't take much effort to set up, try it and see if it drives higher conversion rates for you compared to visitors who arrive on the site from Facebook. Also compare sales volume from Facebook when you have Shops running vs. when you do not. The other advantage Facebook touts is that incidental organic traffic to your Facebook Shops storefront can produce sales that you would otherwise not get--because those people are unwilling to click through to an external site.
Of course,You should always continue to invest on your own site as it is risky to build your entire business on someone else's platform. If you are aware of other successes, please post here.
How to Get Started with Shops
See the courses at the bottom of this link.
The Marketplace is like Craigslist of OfferUp and allows you to list one-off products for sale. No one I've heard of has used it to build a multi-million dollar business.
Shops, on the other hand, is supposed to allow you to build a self-contained store. Announced with great fanfare in June, the jury is still out on how effective or widely used they will be. Facebook clearly wants to grab a bigger slice of the ecommerce market as Covid-19 has accelerated online shopping. According to the Economist, during Covid-19, ecommerce grew as much in 8 weeks as in the previous 5 years.
The idea is that people should be able to browse, checkout and purchase products without ever leaving Facebook i.e. they do not have to click through to the company's website to complete a purchase. In theory, any time you reduce the number of steps to a purchase you get higher conversion rates and so Shops should increase sales.
Shops also integrates with all the major ecommerce platforms, and as you state in your question, it integrates will all major ecommerce platforms.
Have there been successes?
Daily Steals Checkout on Facebook
Based on some Googling, I couldn't find much. But on Facebook's site they talk about a company called Daily Steals that used Marketplace (not Shops) in the way that Shops is intended to be used and got the following results: 5x more sales than usual, 2x better conversion rate.
Our recommendation:
Since it doesn't take much effort to set up, try it and see if it drives higher conversion rates for you compared to visitors who arrive on the site from Facebook. Also compare sales volume from Facebook when you have Shops running vs. when you do not. The other advantage Facebook touts is that incidental organic traffic to your Facebook Shops storefront can produce sales that you would otherwise not get--because those people are unwilling to click through to an external site.
Of course,You should always continue to invest on your own site as it is risky to build your entire business on someone else's platform. If you are aware of other successes, please post here.
How to Get Started with Shops
See the courses at the bottom of this link.
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