F-commerce is the abbreviation for “Facebook Commerce” which, in turn, is nothing more than the commerce of products through a virtual store installed directly on a fanpage of that social network.
Virtual stores on Facebook can be developed entirely by a programmer or installed through applications such as those from Nuvem Shop, Facíleme and LikeStore, among others.
Fever between the years 2011 to 2013, the theme of creating stores within the Facebook environment practically disappeared from the sector's information portals in the following years. Many companies that embarked on this business left soon after.
Despite the drop in information about the industry and the departure of some companies, there are thousands of virtual stores (mostly small to medium-sized) that still work on this system. The band Ratos de Porão, for example, has a store on Facebook.
Here are some advantages of F-commerce:
– Users are already familiar with the social network
– The environment facilitates the sharing of product sales pages
– The system has tools such as Messenger, which facilitates communication between the consumer and the shopkeeper
– Now, note some disadvantages of F-commerce:
– Feeling of lack of security to enter credit card data at the time of payment
– The fan base belongs to Facebook, not you (you have to pay to reach that vast audience, as I discussed in the article “ Agencies, e-commerce platforms and the duck syndrome ”).
– Facebook is an area people use to find friends and not to shop
In general, F-commerce is a great opportunity for those who just want to have an online store but aren't thinking about growth. However, for those who plan to grow in the sector, a professional e-commerce implementation is recommended.
