Meta Shops Feature Changes: What Businesses and Users Need to Know
Facebook and Instagram are doubling down on their commitment to help businesses grow and thrive by introducing new AI-powered automation and tools to help deliver the right ads to the right people at the right time. As part of this effort, here are some changes happening to Shops support across different regions:
In the US, Meta will only onboard new shops with checkout on Facebook and Instagram enabled. By August 10, 2023, onboarding of new shops via all other partners will also only be with checkout on Facebook and Instagram enabled. Shops without checkout on Facebook and Instagram will no longer be accessible beginning April 24, 2024. This means that businesses without checkout-enabled shops will no longer be able to use features associated with shops, including organic product tagging in posts and creating new custom/lookalike audiences derived from people who visited a shop. Exceptions will be granted for omnichannel and subscription businesses.
In 21 international markets including Australia, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, UK, and Ukraine, businesses may continue using Shops without checkout on Facebook and Instagram enabled until further notice.
In EMEA (Europe, Middle East, and Africa), the Shops experience will evolve to be more focused on driving product discovery through product detail pages, product tagging on organic posts, ads with product tags, and conversion on a business’s website. Certain features, like Storefront, Wishlist, and Collections, will no longer be accessible to Shops users based in these markets to support this new simplified and streamlined experience.
In the rest of the world, businesses will no longer be able to host a shop on their Facebook or Instagram page unless the shop has checkout on Facebook and Instagram enabled in the US. Businesses without an accessible shop will no longer be able to use features associated with Shops, including product tagging in posts, Reels, or Stories, and creating new custom/lookalike audiences derived from people who visited a shop. On Instagram, ads with product tags will continue to be available as a solution to enable new and existing customers to discover products at scale via an experience that is independent of Shops.
It’s important to note that the location of a given shop will be determined based on the location of the commerce account that it is associated with. Regardless of the location of a commerce account, any business with a checkout-enabled Facebook or Instagram shop in the US will continue to be able to access their shop. Any business that wishes to enable checkout in the US may do so in Commerce Manager following the instructions on the Meta website.
Overall, these changes are designed to make the shopping experience more seamless and streamlined for both businesses and customers while also supporting Meta’s efforts to deliver the right ad to the right people at the right time through AI-powered automation and new products and tools.
Apart from the changes to Shops, Facebook and Instagram are encouraging businesses to continue using a mix of their most performant free and paid tools to find customers and drive sales, including personalised ads, Reels, and messaging. Personalised ads allow businesses to connect with customers based on their interests, while Reels enable businesses to create short-form video content to get discovered by customers who are not already following their brand. Overall, these changes are designed to make the shopping experience more seamless and streamlined for both businesses and customers while also supporting Meta’s efforts to deliver the right ad to the right people at the right time through AI-powered automation and new products and tools.
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