META: New Tools For Online Shopping

Meta is improving the online shopping experience for all its users across the Facebook app. It now aims to allow users to shop for products they love with groups, creators and friends. Let’s have a look at Meta’s new tools to make shopping and buying better.

With over 1.8 billion people using Facebook Groups every month, Meta is Introducing new ways to shop in Groups and also get inspiration from friends and creators that people trust on the platform.

Engage with Your Community Through Shopping

• Meta is introducing Shops in Groups so that people can support the communities they care about by buying products from them. For example, members of OctoNation, an octopus fan group, can now buy stickers, mugs and apparel to show their love of octopuses.

• With Product Recommendations in Groups, Facebook will show products that members recommend when users ask for guidance within a group and thus make it easy to purchase those products from shops on Facebook.

• Meta is also introducing Top Product Mentions in News Feed as a way to help you discover products that were recommended by peers from groups that you’re a part of.

• It is also beginning to test Live Shopping for creators to make it easier for the creators you already know and trust to partner with brands and highlight their favorite products.

A nonprofit organization, OctoNation, which is working towards educating people about octopuses, is already using Shops in Groups to engage with their members:

“Allowing our members to view and purchase OctoNation’s products in a trusted space they were familiar with has significantly increased sales. This enhanced stream of income has allowed us to bring some of our volunteers into paid positions and increase our profit margins by ordering in bulk. Merch allows OctoNation to foster a stronger sense of community by giving group members an opportunity to display their love of octopuses, start conversations on a topic they love and recruit other members into our community.” says Warren Carlyle, founder and CEO, OctoNation.

Get Information from Others and Make More Informed Purchases

(Source: Meta)

• Community replies allow you to see and respond to questions from people who are considering buying an item that you’ve already purchased, and vice versa.
• Shoppers want to feel confident in the purchases they make, and Meta has recently expanded ratings and reviews. It is giving people more information before they buy on Facebook and Instagram. Now you can shop more confidently with reviews from e-commerce sites, provided by Bazaarvoice and Yotpo.
• By tagging brands you’ve purchased from in your posts on Instagram, businesses can add your images to their shop’s product detail pages. This way, other shoppers can see your photo of the product and feel more confident making a purchase.

With these new tools, Meta believes that it will now be easier to get information and inspiration from the communities online.