Social networks are giving up their efforts to make live sales. Facebook is now shutting down this feature that allows creators to stream and sell products starting October 1 in countries where it was available, with the aim of focusing their efforts on Reels.
This feature was first launched in 2018 in Thailand as a way to open up a revenue stream for Facebook creators by allowing them to host their live shopping sessions. In 2020, the tool was expanded to other countries, such as the United States, due to its high popularity in China.
The company even launched “Shopping Friday Live” last summer, a program where it encouraged various brands to use its tool so that more creators would take advantage of it.
“As consumer viewing behaviors are shifting to short-form video, we’re shifting our focus to Reels, Meta’s short-form video product, on Facebook and Instagram,” the company said in a statement. However, the company noted that the feature will still be available on Instagram.
This decision by the company reiterates its interest in developing the Reels product on its different platforms, something that was motivated by the great growth that TikTok has had in markets outside of China in the last two years.
Meta highlighted to content creators that if they want to sell their products through Facebook they can experiment with ads on their Reels or even tag products to allow users to discover their items from there, which shows their commitment to this format.
It is worth mentioning that this is not the only social network that has given up on its live shopping efforts. TikTok also decided to back down on its initiative in the United Kingdom and the United States. However, global.
“We are constantly evaluating what is the best thing to bring and when is the best time to do it. We do not have a specific date for Live Commerce, but it is certainly something that we are interested in,” said Efraín Mendicuti, director of global business solutions for TikTok Mexico, during a meeting with the media.
And it is that the live sales format has been very successful, but only in very specific regions, such as China, where at the end of 2021 this industry had a value close to 300,000 million dollars, according to data from Insider Intelligence, in fact it is expected that this year they will reach 500,000 million dollars.
However, analysts from the same firm have pointed out that this technology does not apply equally in all markets and although it has worked in China, it has not had the same impact in the West, due to cultural differences and technological habits.
China’s tradition in electronic commerce is evident. This country represents more than half of the entire industry worldwide and its population is open to receiving new purchasing methods and Live Shopping represents more than 50% of social commerce, a very distant figure in the West.
