Shopify, a multinational e-commerce giant had made an announcement of a new merger with Facebook. Since Shopify offers various online retailers a suite of services including payments, marketing, shipping, and customer engagement tools, its new integration with Facebook will allow Shopify users to purchase items via its ‘Shopify Pay’ payment system when buying in Facebook and Instagram Shops.
Shop pay is an accelerated checkout solution that enables Shopify customers to save their email address, credit card, and shipping and billing information in the app so that they can complete their transactions faster whenever they’re directed to the Shopify checkout. This feature has already seen significant usage accounting for more than 137 million orders in 2020.
Due to this integration, both Facebook and Instagram shops could be advancing towards facebook’s e-commerce push by providing more ways for users to revert to a transaction process that they trust when buying through its platforms. In addition, more retailers could be lured to create their Facebook and Insta shops – according to Shopify, checkout on Shop Pay is 70% faster than a typical checkout, while it also sees a 1.72x higher conversion rate.
As explained by Shopify:
“We’re expanding Shop Pay – the fastest and most secure way to shop online – to all Shopify merchants selling on Facebook and Instagram. With Shop Pay now available as a fast and secure payment option on Facebook, people also get access to industry-leading order tracking and carbon offsets from their deliveries.”
“Consumers on Instagram and Facebook will see Shop Pay as a payment option in Facebook Pay. Shop Pay pre-populates their details and speeds them through the most efficient and secure way to pay on the internet – directly on Instagram and Facebook.”
E-commerce is the next big stage for both Instagram and Facebook though it could be held for different purposes for either platform. By incorporating shopping behavior, Facebook is looking to tap into the rising reliance on in-home shopping, accelerated by the pandemic, as a means to expand its utility, while in-app transactions could also play a crucial role in the platform’s expansion into new regions. On Instagram, mostly there exists a higher degree of product discovery than happens within the app. This way, it is made easier to jump from browsing to buying, hence making shopping a much more habitual behavior and changing the way people use the app. Shopify Pay also offers order tracking, providing an extra level of assurance.
The opportunities on both fronts are significant, and adding more payment options – especially established, trusted processes – could prove to be a major step.
