Facebook Launches New E-Commerce Initiative, Facebook Shops

There’s yet another “Shop” platform with “Made in Silicon Valley” tags. This time, it’s Facebook’s.

CEO Mark Zuckerberg took a break from ironing his Brunello Cucinelli hoodies yesterday to introduce Facebook Shops. The gist: Shops will merge a seller’s social media profile with shoppable product pages for free.

• Any brand that registers for Shops can sell products through Facebook and Instagram storefronts, Stories, and ads.
• Shopify and BigCommerce inked partnerships to upload participating brands’ catalogues and process orders made through Shops.
• Later on, Shops will enable purchases through direct messaging and live broadcasts.

“Facebook has been good at helping people find new products through ads, but has never succeeded at becoming a place people go specifically to shop,” Bloomberg notes. So planting commerce tools in every orifice of its apps could finally train users to see Facebook as a virtual mall.

What’s in it for brands? Exposure. Facebook’s app family shares nearly 3 billion global users, while Pinterest—the reigning champ for social media commerce—has 322 million. Already, nearly 1 million businesses have signed up for Facebook Shops, per TechCrunch.