Having a Facebook page is virtually essential for modern businesses, and now they might be able to reap some new benefits from it too. Facebook is rolling out two new sections to promote both goods and services that merchants sell on the platform.
The Shop section lets businesses list products they’re selling, and allows customers to put in an offer through Messenger, while the Services lets them do the same for, well, services. You can list prices, along with a description and photos.
The Shop section is available for emerging markets. Facebook lists the top 10 countries for Shops on Pages as Thailand, Brazil, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, Philippines, India, Argentina, and Taiwan. The services section will be available to all Pages in the coming weeks.
Given actual sales operate via Messenger, the feature seems primarily intended for small businesses and individual merchants, who normally deal with with customers on a one-to-one basis; you won’t be buying chips from Walmart this way.
Still, it’s a simple and potentially powerful way for businesses to strike new deals with customers who are already on Facebook most of the time anyway. It’s certainly more convenient than having to visit a business’ webpage – if they even have one.
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