Facebook Shops and why SMEs need to get onboard. Ideally fast. Not like there's much else to do...

As you may well have seen, Facebook's response to the Covid Crisis has been to launch Shops, a highly simplified way of allowing businesses and even individuals to set up shop storefronts within Facebook/Instagram itself. Now, it's clear that this has been in the pipeline for some time, but it's also true that this is a very well timed innovation for SMEs.

I've yet to try it out myself, but it does look pretty neat; a drag-and-drop interface and the ability to pull in inventory from other xml sources. Best of all, it's free.

Now, FB will charge a "very small" fee for each product sold, but the main reasons for this new product is, naturally, 1) the data and 2)the ad revenue. And it's this integration into ad units where I think Shops will be at its most effective.

The way FB/IG ad units currently integrate into retail is already pretty sweet. They're a great way of introducing and showcasing product ranges to targeted cold audiences and feed-based Dynamic Ads have been able to take inventory and (re)target users in a myriad of ways with a retailer's product inventory.

But this takes it a bit further. Let me explain with a scenario:

A fashion retailer will want to launch their new Spring/Summer range to audiences on Facebook/Insta. Right now, they can do this with carousel ads which showcase the products brilliantly with images and video. The user can tap straight through to the website and browse. Or the retailer can run a dynamic product ad (also in the carousel format, for simplicity) where they user can browse a selection of the range right there in the ad unit, click through directly to that product listing page on the site and buy. Lovely.

But actually, what the user is likely to want to browse the range more wisely. When I go into a clothes store, I generally know pretty much exactly what I'm after, but I know that I am an exception in this. And I am not going to be making any crude gender stereotypes here, but... certain people like to peruse in more detail than others.

Up until now, the user experience hasn't been disastrous: an ad unit launching a range can link through to a nice, (mobile) optimised landing page. But Shops makes this utterly native, a more seamless experience for the user. It goes even further to closing the loop between demand generation and fulfilment. Remember, our potential clothes shopper may not have been a potential clothes shopper until a few seconds and a few taps ago. Shops has to be factored in to a new best-practice.

Furthermore, it will bring the retail data closer to the ad unit. What I mean by this is that Facebook's ad buying tech will now have access to your site's analytics because the "site" is now on their platform. I am going to park the ethics of Facebook's ever growing hegemony for another article because, certainly for SMEs, there are big benefits to having it this way.

A retailer using this platform will be able to attribute user behaviour within Shops to the ads that drove them there. Examples of this will doubtless include the ability to track what products were viewed and then bought, allowing users to be pooled into new audiences for retargeting, either directly or as the basis of lookalike modelling.

"So what, you've always been able to do this." Yes, but up until now to do this at a basic level has required time-consuming tagging of a website, something that requires a degree of technical knowhow (to be clear, please still do this!) or, at a more technical level, expensive third party ad tech, out of reach to most SMEs. Shops promises integration of such into its templated platform.

So hey, my local craft beer shop has had a new drop. Rather than just posting it organically, they know that not everyone who likes beer in their catchment area follows them on Instagram/Facebook. They also know that those who do probably won't see the post, buried as it is in their feed. To get around this, they promote the drop as an ad. They know I'm a craft beer geek because they've targeted me based on my interests. I see the ad and I think it's cool (because I'm a sucker for craft!) and I peruse the carousel but I don't necessarily want these beers, I want to see what else they got... and now, with a tap, I can in a fully integrated way. And my local craft beer shop has a seamless buy funnel and can see exactly what their customers are doing, optimising their ads and their business accordingly.

It will pay to be early adopters. First movers in this space are going to stand out the most. You will also have an edge on competitors as you will be able to work out the foibles of the platform and develop best-practices sooner. So...

Retailers. the opportunity is huge. Your audiences are at home. You already can reach them, and only pay when they show an interest. Every ad campaign that drives awareness generates audiences that will drive sales. And Shops is going to tie the bottom (sales) end of the funnel back to the top (awareness) end of the funnel better than ever.

Best get onboard.