Facebook Shops Top 1 Million Stores, 250 Million Users

Facebook founder and chief executive officer Mark Zuckerberg said stores on its eCommerce portal Shops have topped 1 million sellers and more than 250 users interacting with merchandise, AdWeek reported on Friday (March 19).

“It’s still obviously early, but we now have more than 1 million active Shops, and more than 250 million people actively interacting with Shops every month. So, I think the progress in terms of being able to ramp up some of this stuff and all of the different tools that now exist … it’s really amazing,” Zuckerberg said in a Thursday (March 18) discussion on the audio-based invitation-only social app Clubhouse.

“I think that the next five years are going to be really explosive in terms of the potential across a lot of these verticals,” he added.

Facebook introduced Shops in May 2020 for eCommerce and social selling. Small businesses can set up one store for both Facebook and Instagram and let shoppers checkout and pay either on the business website or right on Facebook as long as the store enabled checkout.

Facebook Shops was launched in part to help small businesses struggling to survive amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Although the focus is small businesses, the selling portal is open to businesses of all sizes. 

The Shops portal gives sellers power over what items to feature, create product collections and tell the story of their brand. Sellers can chat with shoppers through WhatsApp, Messenger, or Instagram Direct to answer questions, offer support, and more.

The social media giant also teamed with companies that could provide tools and solutions to streamline the digital setup — Shopify, BigCommerce, WooCommerce, Channel Advisor, CedCommerce, Cafe24, Tienda Nube, and Feedonomics. 

Since launching, new features have been rolled out across all of Facebook’s apps — live shopping, loyalty programs, and more. 

In its mission to help small businesses during the pandemic, Facebook launched a hub last year that offered general business information, virtual training, and more. It also enhanced Shops in August to offer an in-app shopping experience.