The social media giant continues its journey in the world of e-commerce and has recently launched WhatsApp Shops in the United States.
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg presented the next stage in his battle against Amazon and other e-commerce giants, introducing WhatsApp shops a few days ago. The idea behind this new initiative is that WhatsApp shops will allow users to chat with sellers before making a purchase. If they decide to make a purchase, they can do so directly through the chat or by interfacing with the online store on Facebook Marketplace. In other words, once a business sets up an online store on Facebook Marketplace, it will automatically be available on Instagram and WhatsApp. This should make the purchasing process and customer engagement much simpler and more dynamic.
Facebook's leading idea is to create full integration between their three main applications: Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram. One of the features Zuckerberg introduced to enhance the shopping experience on Marketplace is Shops Ads.
The next feature aims to provide a more personalized shopping experience based on individual shopping habits. Zuckerberg said, "We are launching the ability for businesses to send shoppers to a place where you are likely to make a purchase based on your shopping behavior." From now on, dynamic AR advertisements are available in the United States. Companies like Huda Beauty and Laura Mercier use these ads to allow customers to try out shades of makeup with AR before purchasing.
It will be interesting to see how and if Amazon responds to Facebook's new multi-faceted model and whether we will witness this trend with the new Amazon Posts feature.
