- We’re introducing new tools to make shopping and buying better on our apps. With Product Recommendations and Shops in Groups, we’re bridging community and commerce.
- With an early test of Live Shopping for creators, we’re also creating new opportunities for brands, creators and people to build relationships.
- We’re helping people make more informed purchases through reviews and information from other shoppers.
Gone are the days when shopping meant stacks of catalogs and infomercials. Today we look to our friends, family, creators and groups we trust for inspiration. With more than 1.8 billion people using Facebook Groups every month, today we’re introducing new ways to shop in Groups and get inspiration from friends and creators you trust on Facebook:
Engage with Your Community Through Shopping
- We’re introducing Shops in Groups so you can support the communities you 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.
- People often ask members of groups for recommendations on their experience with a product and how it performs. With Product Recommendations in Groups, we’ll show products that members recommend when you ask for guidance within a group and make it easy to purchase those products from shops on Facebook.
- We’re 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.
- Today we’re creating educational and fun shopping events that bring together a community of fans, creators and brands. We’re 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.
OctoNation, a nonprofit organization working to educate 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.” – Warren Carlyle, founder and CEO, OctoNation
Get Information from Others and Make More Informed Purchases
- Community replies allows 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 we’ve recently expanded ratings and reviews we’re 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.
Our communities are central to how we discover trends, brands and products, and these new tools will make it easier to get inspiration and information from friends, groups, creators and others.