Facebook has rolled out a new tab in its main app called Facebook Shop. The company had introduced a similar tab on Instagram in July after it announced Facebook Shops — its feature to turn pages into stores — in May.



The social media company’s idea is to offers a marketplace for creators and boutique brands to provide an easy way to conduct business. Previously on Facebook, you could see these pages selling items you might be interested in, but you might not go to their website and buy it. Now, you can do it all on the Facebook app.

Facebook’s AI team has applied various models on this service including computer vision to categorize each product by identifying the brand, color, design, and style. So, if you’re searching for a particular item with a specific color, you can get accurate results.

The company has also introduced more tools for businesses to customize their pages on Shops such as new layout for featuring single or group of products, new insights page, and a real-time preview of collections design.

The social media company has rolled out support for Checkout on Instagram and Facebook across the US. Checkout is a tool that helps people shop inside Instagram or Facebook without leaving the app. It also remembers your payment information, so you don’t need to enter it again.

The social network has also introduced support for you to chat with these businesses on Facebook Shops through Messenger, Instagram Direct, or WhatsApp. It said that while it’s currently only testing the feature with Messenger and Instagram Direct, an option for WhatsApp will also be added soon.

A lot of brands have a significant social media presence on Facebook and Instagram. Introducing new tabs for customers to easily look at these brands’ products and purchase goods without leaving the platform is a major win for the company.

All new features will start rolling out across the US on 25th August 2020.