Social networking giant, Facebook is looking to expand its e-commerce presence by the introduction of new features on its platforms. The US-based company is expanding its ‘Shops’ feature to the messaging app Whatsapp in several countries and also to Marketplace in the US.

The move was announced by Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg through his Facebook post.

In a Facebook post, Mr. Zuckerberg wrote, “New commerce features coming to support businesses and make shopping easier. Shops on WhatsApp and Marketplace, Instagram Visual Search and Shops Ads.”

Facebook Shops is a mobile-first shopping experience where businesses can easily create an online store on Facebook and Instagram for free. Facebook has over 300 million monthly Shops visitors and over 1.2 million monthly active Shops.

 “More than 1 billion people use Marketplace each month, so we’re making it easy for businesses to bring their Shops into Marketplace to reach even more people,” added Mr. Zuckerberg. 

With the rollout of Shops on Whatsapp, a user can chat with a business before buying something. Facebook is also launching new ads to personalise the shopping experience and point a customer to a Shop’s curated collection.

“Businesses only need to set up their shop once to have it work across Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp,” added Mr. Zuckerberg

Apart from Shops, Facebook is also introducing an Instagram Visual Search, that will helps in discovering products based on images. Shoppers want to feel confident in the purchases they make, so the company is giving people more information before they buy. Over the next few months, Facebook will expand ratings and reviews to products in Shops on Instagram.