For a long time now on Facebook and Instagram it has been possible to create catalogs, or a set of products that can then be advertised or tagged on posts.

These catalogs are useful because through them all information relating to the inventory can be added and managed, ie the various titles, descriptions, prices, images, product variants. In addition, access to the catalog can be shared with others, so that it can be managed by several people. You can create a single catalog with many products or several catalogs with a few products, perhaps divided by type. Finally, it is also possible to configure them in a localized way so as to be available for multiple countries in multiple languages.

Creating a catalog is very simple. Just have a Page and configure the Business Manager. If you already have an e-commerce, you can connect to Facebook so that the products are automatically imported to the platform and constantly updated. If, on the other hand, you do not have an online store, the products can be entered manually one by one accompanied by their descriptions, prices and all their variants.

Catalogs can be used in many ways.

One of all is Shopping. In fact, on Instagram it is possible to tag products in posts and the user, with a simple touch, can have all the information he wants and see the articles related to them.

It is also possible to import the products of the catalog into the Shop of the Page, so that a real virtual showcase can be built in which to show them. By also transferring all the details relating to the items, the user can give the impression that they are moving within an e-commerce and will only have to move to the site to complete the purchase.

The catalogs can then be used to create dynamic advertisements, which through the Facebook pixel show the catalog items to those users who have already searched for them or have already visited the brand’s website.

Finally, collection ads can be created, which sponsor four articles via images or videos, and users by tapping on each of them can get more information.

As of May 19th, a small number of companies using the Facebook page shops have been moved to the Facebook Shop. This tool will be made available to more and more companies in the coming months.

It will be the social commerce that, through a virtual showcase, will allow small companies to have a sort of e-commerce, even if they don’t actually own one. Thanks to this feature, users will be able to purchase products directly from the platform on which they saw them, without having to move to a website.

The idea is to be able to create a real e-commerce site within social networks where it will be possible to customize the layout and presentation of the articles.
As soon as the function is enabled, Facebook will send companies a link with access to the Shop Builder.

The interesting thing is that users will be able to reach the products of their interest from the page, stories and advertisements of the brand and buy them without leaving the social network they are using. Furthermore, for any difficulty or doubt, users will have the opportunity to write on the chat of the page and have all the information they need. Probably, in a more advanced stage, it will even be possible to conclude the sale by message.

Collections can also be made. It will then be possible to group the products offered according to their style or the interests of users. The collections may contain from six to thirty articles, have a cover image and a brief description.

Another very useful function is that of live shopping. In a very short time it will be possible to tag the products that are shown during the live shows in real time at the bottom of the screen, so that users can immediately find the product.

This novelty will certainly be useful to small local businesses or startups that usually, having a limited budget, do not have the opportunity to have their own e-commerce site but still want to reach a large audience and be able to sell online.

Facebook Shop is a free tool and, if you do not have the opportunity to check out the purchase on an online site, the payment will be handled by Facebook through Stripe, applying a small commission.

It is also useful for large brands in order to facilitate the purchase phase of their customers and to make their browsing experience more enjoyable. Among the many features of Facebook Shop there is in fact also that of being much faster in loading the various pages from mobile compared to classic websites with e-commerce.

For now we can only imagine what it will be like to have online stores on Instagram and Facebook, but it’s probably only a matter of a few months before all of this becomes reality. In the meantime, watch the video tutorial!