Facebook puts an end to live shopping feature

Meta is shutting down the Facebook Live Shopping feature from 1 October to focus more on Reels.

5 Aug 2022

"Beginning on October 1, 2022, you will no longer be able to host any new or scheduled Live Shopping events on Facebook. You will still be able to use Facebook Live to broadcast live events, but you won’t be able to create product playlists or tag products in your Facebook Live videos," Meta announced.

It said that "consumers’ viewing behaviours are shifting to short-form video," leading Meta to shift its focus more to the short-form video format Reels on Facebook and Instagram.

However, live shopping functionality will remain on Instagram.

Consumers plan to shop more on social media over next 3 years

Zuko Mdwaba 5 Jul 2022

"If you want to reach and engage people through video, try experimenting with Reels and Reels ads on Facebook and Instagram. You can also tag products in Reels on Instagram to enable deeper discovery and consideration. If you have a shop with checkout and want to host live shopping events on Instagram, you can set up Live Shopping on Instagram," Meta said.

According to TechCrunch, the livestream video shopping functionality became publicly available on Facebook two years ago, following a series of smaller trials and beta tests. The feature opened up another revenue stream for creators, and gave creators and brands an interactive way to sell items, connect with viewers and potentially gain new customers.