Facebook Inc is making another run at building a shopping empire – and this time it has the direct involvement of the company’s most important executive, Mark Zuckerberg.
The Facebook chief executive officer announced a handful of updates on May 19 signaling the company’s commitment to online shopping and commerce, one of the areas he highlighted as a priority for this year. The main product, called Shops, is a new version of an existing Facebook feature with a similar name, and will let retailers upload product catalogs to their Facebook page or Instagram profile. Users can find these Shops directly from the retailer’s page, or by clicking on an ad that will redirect them to a Shop inside Facebook instead of the retailer’s own website.