Facebook ramps up ecommerce offerings
Thanks to new integrations with ecommerce platforms like Delivery.com, businesses can now use their Facebook pages to sell goods and services directly to customers, the company announced Wednesday.
With an enhanced "call to action" button on its page, a business can integrate with a variety of service providers they're already doing business with. Here are the available integrations:
- Start Order - Accept orders with delivery.com or Slice.
- Book Now - Book appointments with HomeAdvisor, MyTime and other services.
- Buy Tickets - Sell tickets with Eventbrite or Ticketmaster.
- See Showtimes - Provide show schedules and sell tickets with Fandango.
Facebook says it's adding more third-party services soon, with the current ones available to any business in the US. If a company isn't working with any of Facebook's third-party partners, it can drive commerce through Facebook Messenger with its new "get quote" and "request time" call-to-action buttons.
Facebook has for years courted small businesses, primarily giving SMBs a platform on which to advertise to customers. The latest moves take the company closer than ever to becoming an ecommerce platform in its own right, and they follow the announcement from Shopify, which now lets merchants sell products to consumers directly within Messenger. Additionally, Facebook recently rolled out a portal for hyperlocal ecommerce that gives users a Craigslist-like way to sell things from person to person.
Meanwhile, Facebook on Wednesday also rolled out a new Recommendations feature that lets users embed business Facebook pages into their response when their friends ask for recommendations. The recommendations are posted to a map so the person soliciting feedback can view all of their friends' responses in one place.