E-commerce has revolutionized the way we shop! It has become the go-to destination for all our shopping needs. E-commerce sites provide better prices and more variety, making it a convenient option for shoppers.
Many people browse through popular e-Commerce stores and search engines to find whatever they are looking for. Amazon, Flipkart, eBay, Facebook etc. are such platforms that enable buyers to shop from!
With Facebook also offering various ways to promote your e-commerce store, the biggest debate now is FB or Amazon – What should you choose?
Facebook, though popularly known as an online social media and social networking service, has introduced a feature called - Facebook Shop. The shop section tab can be added to your Business Page and it lets you display and sell the products directly from your business page. It's suitable for sellers, retail, and eCommerce advertisers who want to reach out to a large audience, who are the potential customers on Facebook.
Some of the top advantages are:
It's free to use, and Facebook does not take any percentage of what you earn through your shop section.
Choose the best products and upload them along with the pricing.
Once your products are uploaded, your customers can browse and buy them on any device without having to leave your Page.
It allows you to mark orders as shipped, cancel orders and refund orders without leaving your Page.
Facebook shares details such as how many views and/or message sends you've received for each product.
However, you can only sell physical products that must comply with Facebook’s content guidelines.
Additionally, you can also run product ads on Facebook. Advertisers can upload entire product catalogs and then use Advanced Facebook Ads targeting techniques to reach the right customers who would be interested in those products.
Amazon, on the other hand, is an eCommerce website that allows anyone registered to sell their products with good user-experience and top-notch customer service. Acquiring a customer might be difficult, especially if you have just begun your journey of selling online. So it is a good idea to go to a platform that has already established themselves.
Selling on amazon is relatively simple. All you need to do is register on the platform and follow their set of guidelines.
Amazon wins at e-commerce as it has a lot of advantages such as:
It uses a majority of its homepage to feature personalized, recommended products to its members.
Amazon takes care of customer issues and complaints in a timely and appropriate manner that has a huge positive impact at the end of the day.
The biggest advantage Amazon provides is its Amazon Prime offering. It provides members with unlimited free two-day shipping on millions of items on Amazon, as well as access to the - Amazon Instant Video, which is the company’s streaming service and also allows the users to borrow books from the Kindle Owners’ Landing Library.
Consumers research products online and look at ratings and reviews from their peers, as the opinions of other consumers are highly trusted. Thus, to increase sales, retailers take steps to increase the engagement with their reviews, such as offering incentives or sending friendly reminders via email to shoppers who made a recent purchase.
Amazon and Facebook have a couple of differences mentioned below:
Products on Amazon is advertised by using Amazon Sponsored Products. Retailers get free impressions for the product offers and pay only when the ad is clicked. However, on Facebook, you will have to run ads and promote it and measure the ROI.
Learn how to boost a product, and learn about other ways of advertising on Facebook.
Amazon picks products from the retailers and delivers it straight to the customer, whereas a seller on Facebook has to take care of the shipping & delivery on his own.
Amazon deducts a fee only after the retailer makes a sale and receives timely payments, whereas Facebook does not charge any percentage of what the retailer earns from the Shop section.
Have an e-commerce store? Which strategy are you using? Let us know in the comment section below.
Jae Dev2019-07-15 < Reply
FB market place is certainly larger than Amazon when it comes to traffic. BUT people (especially here in the US) are still not used to buying stuff from FB as they still think this is the place to look at their grand kid's photos and spy on their friends. FB though is certainly something we should look out for now that they have their own currency.
Gaurav Dev2018-12-07 < Reply
I'm not sure about FB selling, but I'm an advocate of selling on Amazon using FBA. The simple reason is the built-in audience in Amazon that are willing to buy products and the simplicity in which you can conduct business on the platform.
Ayesha Rafeeq2019-01-03 < Reply
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Ayesha Rafeeq2019-01-03 < Reply
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