On Tuesday, massive commerce platform Shopify announced that it’s expanding its Shop Pay payment tool to all merchants selling on Facebook and Instagram.
Shopify describes the feature as “accelerated checkout that lets customers save their email address, credit card, and shipping and billing information so that they can complete their transaction faster the next time they are directed to the Shopify checkout.” While brands such as Allbirds, Kith, Beyond Yoga, Loeffler Randall and others already use the feature, the integration marks Shop Pay’s initial foray beyond Shopify’s borders and into broader social commerce.
“People are embracing social platforms not only for connection, but for commerce,” Carl Rivera, general manager of Shop, said in a blog post. “Making Shop Pay available outside of Shopify for the first time means even more shoppers can use the fastest and best checkout on the internet.”
Customers on Instagram and Facebook will see a new Shop Pay option within Facebook Pay, alongside credit cards, debit cards and PayPal. The user enters a confirmation code that was texted to their phone, and the tool automatically fills in the shopper’s details, completing the order without the person leaving Instagram or Facebook.
From there, shoppers can track orders and see the carbon emissions offset from their purchases. According to Shopify, it offsets 100 percent of every Shop Pay delivery’s carbon emissions, amounting to some 75,000 tons offset so far.
“And there’s more to come: we’ll continue to work with Facebook to bring a number of Shopify services and products to these platforms to make social selling so much better,” Carl Rivera, general manager of Shop, teased in a blog post.
This latest move will likely boost Shop Pay’s traction. The company calculates that customers used the payment feature in more than 137 million orders last year. Since its launch in 2017 to the end of 2020, Shop Pay transactions totaled almost $20 billion in cumulative gross merchandise value.
Shopify’s work with Facebook highlights the high engagement across social media during the pandemic.
“As more consumers have been shuttered in their homes for much of the past year, it’s no surprise that they are doing more shopping directly on social platforms like Facebook and Instagram and using new platforms like TikTok for actual discovery and influence,” Gary Barnett, chief executive officer of Semafone, a data security, compliance and payments solutions provider for contact centers.
“Shopify’s partnership with Facebook speaks to the rise in social commerce and the need to meet consumers where they are — no matter the channel,” he added.
By: Adriana Lee
