Facebook & Instagram Shopping Streamlines With Shopify “Shop Pay”

In a move that's surprised nobody and caught even fewer people off guard, Facebook and Instagram have announced a smart new integration with Shop Pay, from Shopify.

Brands and marketers will now be able to take advantage of Shopify Shop Pay's higher conversation rate and lightning-fast service to provide a more attractive offer to their customers while boosting revenue and providing a more positive experience to a buyer.

What is Shopify Shop Pay and how will it work?

Shop Pay works off the back of a similar idea to Amazon's One-Click order process.

Shop Pay helps Shopify users save time at the checkout by saving their important deals (card number, address, shipping information), enabling them to complete the purchase process quicker.

And it works.

Shop Pay was used for more than 137 million orders in 2020, and people love it. While Facebook already has its own payment integration called Facebook Pay, customers may be more willing to use an alternative option due to the network's dodgy relationship with user data.

The integration will be simple.

Users will find Shop Pay as an option in the checkout on Facebook, and merchants who use Shopify will now offer it as a payment option. It sounds like there should be no pain-points, or basically no pain-points, for users and merchants.

What will merchants get out of this?

Shopify appears very proud of their ability to increase transaction volume and customer satisfaction. According to them, Shop Pay is 70% faster and results in a 1.72% higher conversion rate.

Shopify

"For merchants, this means fewer abandoned carts and increased conversion.

For consumers, this means a one-click checkout that remembers and encrypts their important details including billing and shipping information, leading to more time shopping and less time filling out forms."

For merchants, this will mean more sales, more revenue and a happier customer base. In theory, this is a win-win for everyone involved.

In addition to those benefits, the Shopify integration also offers to do some of the heavy lifting for you through their order tracking and management. As well as this, they also promise to do their bit for the environment (and impress potential customers) through their carbon-neutral policy.

Shopify

"Our global order tracking service enables consumers to track all of their important purchases, receive updates, and manage orders.

Shop Pay offsets 100% of the delivery emissions for every order. 53% of consumers say they prefer green or sustainable products, and Shopify now makes it possible for more consumers who check out on Facebook and Instagram to shop sustainably."

But you need a Facebook shop first

Launched in 2020, Facebook's new e-commerce suite, Facebook Shops, puts it into direct competition with both Amazon and eBay, as Facebook explores new revenue streams outside of advertising.

Albeit coming from an almost zero base.

Facebook Shops are customisable online storefronts, housed on a Facebook page or Instagram profile, which allow users to browse and purchase items within the platform.

"Right now many small businesses are struggling, and with stores closing, more are looking to bring their business online. Our goal is to make shopping seamless and empower anyone from a small business owner to a global brand to use our apps to connect with customers.

That's why we're launching Facebook Shops and investing in features across our apps that inspire people to shop and make buying and selling online easier."

Facebook shops are a way for you to create a digital storefront on Facebook and across its library of apps. From the shop, customers can browse your products and make purchases, while their faster loading time and ease of use can make them an excellent place to increase revenue and exposure.

Shops can be created in Commerce Manager, but first, you must make sure that you're either:

• The Business Manager admin, or
• You own your Facebook Page and catalogue in Business Manager, or
• You have Manage Page permissions and Manage catalogue permissions

Following that, it's a fairly simple process.

Facebook has been taking baby steps in this direction for some time. So commerce was not a radical move. Expanded commercial functionality offers Facebook two significant benefits:

• An additional revenue stream reducing reliance on ad revenue which is beginning to slow down
  • Something which Google has done since the GFC with Google Cloud for example
• Provides invaluable customer data and insights which can be fed back into ad products enabling Facebook to charge a higher premium for ads

With Apple's new iOS 14 updates threatening to choke off substantial sums of audience data, seamless conversions will likely get a shot in the arm as Big Blue prioritises on-platform intent signals.