As of January 2019, close to 210 million people use Facebook in the United States, almost half of the American population. On average, people under the age of 25 spend at least 40 minutes per day on Facebook. So, it is a perfect place for advertising and selling.
The concept of Facebook online shopping is called F-commerce, which stands for Facebook Commerce. It began in 2009. First Facebook stores (GameStop, J.C. Penney, Nordstrom, and Gap) were closed within a year. The industry analysts used to make jokes that ‘F’ in the term F-commerce means ‘failure.’
The world of social media has changed a lot over the past ten years. In fact, the number of digital buyers reached 1.8 billion in 2018. More and more people purchase goods online. No wonder, online shopping has a lot of benefits. First of all, the prices in online stores are lower than in physical ones.
Customers can buy things directly from a manufacturer or vendor without paying extra operations costs involved in running a physical store. There is also an option to buy used stuff from the owners for almost half of the original price. Secondly, buying online can save a lot of time. You can avoid crowds and queues, and shop at any time. Also, it is easy to compare the prices on different online marketplaces.
The reasons behind the rise of facebook online shopping are simple. Facebook has 2.32 billion monthly active users. Everyone can be considered a potential customer. People use this social platform more than Amazon and Etsy because it is their main communication channel.
You don’t need to have a well-known company to start selling online. You can put a personal item for sell on Facebook groups or your wall. It is the easiest solution. First of all, Facebook has a familiar, user-friendly interface. You don’t need to spend hours looking for the right button. Secondly, you don’t have to fill out the form with personal data ( your name, email, phone number, etc. ).
If you want to sell your old bike, you can just take a few pictures, write a description and post it. There are high chances that your item will reach its target audience. Also, there are no hidden charges for people who sell their used things on Facebook. Moreover, you don’t have to show anyone your tax identification number.
According to social media expert SocialProof, these are steps to sell your item on Facebook fast:
- Write a detailed description of the item. Include the price.
- Attach high-quality photos.
- Post in buy and sell groups and on your wall. Ask your Facebook friends to share your advert.
The Facebook store can’t offer so many features like other e-commerce companies. For instance, you can’t sell digital products such as online books. On the other hand, it allows adding as many products as you want. You can also organize it into categories and collections.
There are many small reason which have resulted in the rise of the Facebook’s online shopping platform, which is showing no signs of slowing down. The ads created by genuine people in your neighbourhood, translating ad description into multiple languages, and automated messages are some of the advantages associated with Facebook marketplace.