Users will now be able to buy products straight from a business’s Instagram profile or Facebook page. Both Instagram and Facebook support e-commerce up to some extent but it goes further by creating a fully organized Facebook Shop.

As the COVID-19 pandemic has made consumers treat Instagram and Facebook as an informational platform to know about stores and restaurants. As the stores and restaurants mostly post about the change in their hours or delivery options on their profiles. Considering the impact of COVID-19 on small businesses, Facebook is helping those businesses to survive by allowing visitors to make purchases via the business profiles.

Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg states this as an initiative to support small businesses in the wake of COVID-19 and is of the opinion this will continue even after the pandemic ends.

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Instagram’s VP Vishal Shah says that this is a big global test as about 1 million businesses have already registered for this. These businesses will be able to build Facebook Shop for free, all they have to do is upload their catalog, select the products they wish to showcase and further customize it with a cover image and colors. Vistors then will be able to come, browse, save, or order the products.

Facebook VP of ads Dan Levy as the company will charge only a small fee on each purchase, the actual monetization will drive in from advertising. Shops will be featured in stories or ads. Also, there are plans to launch Instagram Shop in the summers, which will allow users to browse products from Instagram explore directly and get into the experience of shopping from the main tab.

Facebook is also collaborating with Shopify, Woo, BigCommerce, CedCommerce, Cafe24, Feedonomics, and Channel Advisor to help merchants to make use of these platforms to manage their Facebook Shops.