Introducing Facebook Shops: Is Shopify out of the game?

BY CHRISTINA GWIRA

This past week, Facebook announced Facebook Shops. Essentially, the solution would bring eCommerce directly to the Facebook platform. For many local stores and businesses, this could be a simple, fast and FREE way to break out into the eCommerce world. As the platform will be already integrated into the Facebook ecosystem, businesses with a business page will now have the option to also have an online store, directly running on Facebook. For a bit of clarity, the other members of the Facebook ecosystem include: Instagram, the photo and video sharing app; Whatsapp, the mobile messaging service; Oculus VR, which is a virtual reality company; Onavo, for web analytics and lastly Beluga, which is also a messaging service. What could happen in the near future is an amalgamation of all the above technologies and apps into one eCommerce platform: Facebook Shops.

Here’s a little-known secret: there are two versions of Whatsapp. There’s the Whatsapp that we’re all familiar with the one where aunties share 5G news and the good morning blessings. However, there’s also another version of Whatsapp called Whatsapp Business. With Whatsapp Business, certain things are enabled for your account, to make commerce easier on the platform. I’ve used Whatsapp Business, instead of the regular version of Whatsapp for several months now. As an entrepreneur, I love the platform and the thing is, the interface is EXACTLY the same as the regular Whatsapp, except for one, major thing: you can run Facebook and Instagram ads to send or receive messages through Whatsapp. This has been a feature for several months now and I discovered it when I was trying to setup a simple ad for my Facebook page.

Imagine this: the ability to chat with someone, directly on their phone, from your phone, through an ad that you setup. Ground-breaking. Not through Facebook Messenger, not through email, directly to their cellphone number. But that’s not all that I noticed in Whatsapp Business. For the past week or two, Whatsapp has been prompting me to add my products to my Facebook Shop. I only recently started offering digital products in the form of social media templates to my Instagram audience, so I was very weary that somehow, Facebook knew that I had a product to sell (*cough* *cough* I am now, more than ever, super certain that our devices are listening to us!). So, it was strange that I would continuously be asked to do so. Then, the news about Facebook Shops hit, and it all made sense.

One of the questions that I have is how Facebook Shops differs from the Instagram and Facebook catalog, which I thought Whatsapp was prompting me to populate. In or around 2017, Facebook introduced Instagram Shopping: this feature enabled companies to be able to tag products within Instagram, and once a follower or viewer clicked on the product, they would be directed to their online store to purchase. This would take them away from the Facebook ecosystem. My prediction is that Facebook will attempt to either shutdown the catalog, therefore turning off this feature for millions of businesses, forcing them to keep their catalog on their platform. The reason I think this is because if people are forced to purchase and most importantly pay on and within the Facebook ecosystem, then Facebook would be able to eventually monetize this feature in more ways than one. For example: Facebook could demand a portion of sales, Facebook could dictate which payment processor will need to be used. Lastly, but probably most problematic, Facebook could determine whether your shop is or isn’t fit for their platform…

While we are going through a pandemic, life still goes on: this article is due and so are bills. However, with Facebook’s cunning launch of Facebook Shops, I believe that the future of the feature will be another way for Facebook to dig into the pockets and lives of its users. While Facebook does state that they are working with other eCommerce platforms like Shopify (my favorite), Woocommerce and Bigcommerce, I’m hesitant as to what the future will hold for this new feature. What will fees look like after COVID-19? Will the Facebook catalog still be in place? Will Instagram Shopping become a thing of the past? These questions and more come to mind.

Nevertheless, I would still encourage those who are looking to bring their business online to try and setup their store through Facebook Shops. For now, it is free, and it’s always good to have the early adopter advantage. If you’ve been looking to take your business online and have an online shop, this may be a viable option for you. You totally cut out the web designers like me clean out of the way and have the opportunity to completely run you and create your online store. Take a chance and see.