Shopify (NYSE: SHOP) is finally bringing its shopping platform, Shop Pay, to some Facebook (NASDAQ: FB) platforms months after the two struck a deal back in June 2020. Initially, the Shop Pay option will be available on Instagram only, and then expand to Facebook, with consumers being able to utilize the Shop Pay option in order to make purchases from businesses hosted on the social media platforms.
Shop Pay is a fast checkout process that allows customers to save vital personal information like their email address as well as shipping and billing information. The process will allow customers to have much smoother and faster transactions, streamlining the checkout process to be more efficient and convenient.
Facebook and Instagram have been working closely together in order to create social commerce, which is online media that supports the buying, selling, and distribution of various products in a manner that reflects that of ecommerce. With this new Shop Pay tool, Shopify businesses that are selling items on Facebook or Instagram can make themselves known and available to buyers so that the overall checkout experience can be more secure.
"Through our continued work with Facebook, we're excited to combine the best in commerce with the power of community, extending the benefits of Shop Pay to even more people buying and selling with Shops on Instagram and Facebook," Shopify stated in a blog post.
As part of this new payment option, shoppers can not only keep track of their orders, but also the carbon emissions from the orders that they have purchased. It has been reported that the pandemic has also played an enormous role in the increase of purchases in online shopping, seeing an increase by around 96% in the year 2019 alone.
Shopify has also plans to bring to the table a new merchant tool, "buy now, pay later," that enables customers to pay for their purchases in installments through small loans; similar to a credit card without the credit, fees or interest.
"People are embracing social platforms not only for connection, but for commerce," said Carl Rivera, General Manager of Shop, 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. 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."