Social Commerce for Retail Marketers: Focus on Facebook

Social commerce isn’t a trend. It’s a shift.

And Facebook’s not just along for the ride—it’s steering the thing.

Facebook is just one part of Meta’s broader commerce engine—which also includes Instagram. But when it comes to scale, tooling, and direct transactions, Facebook is leading the charge. By 2025, social commerce is projected to hit $1.3 trillion globally. And if you’re wondering where that spend is happening? Over 62% of U.S. social buyers say their most recent purchase was on Facebook. Not TikTok. Not Instagram. Facebook.

That might surprise you—until you remember Facebook still has a user base larger than any single country. And 90% of consumers worldwide have an account. But it’s not just about scale. What makes Facebook different is its ability to influence purchase decisions and close the loop.

It’s not just where people discover products. It’s where they buy them.

Between native storefronts, in-app checkout, shoppable ads, and new partnerships with players like Amazon, Facebook is turning into a full-stack commerce engine. One that meets consumers where they scroll and gives brands the tools to convert in real time.

If you’re a brand thinking about where to bet in social commerce, Facebook deserves a hard look.

Facebook’s commerce stack: built to remove friction

Facebook has shifted from simply enabling commerce to actively building the infrastructure that powers it. The tools it’s shipping are designed around a single idea: reduce friction from discovery to conversion.

Start with Facebook Shops. These native storefronts live directly within Facebook and Instagram, allowing brands to curate products, tell their story, and activate sales—all without pushing users off-platform. Over 1.5 million businesses now use Shops, and more than 300 million users engage with them each month. That kind of built-in traffic doesn’t just boost visibility—it drives conversion.

And friction is where most purchase intent dies. Baymard Institute found that U.S. online shoppers may abandon orders due to overly complex or lengthy checkout processes. That’s why Facebook is leaning into in-app checkout. By removing the redirect-to-website step, Facebook keeps users engaged—and that single step change can increase conversion rates by up to 20%.

While Shops offer a curated brand experience, Marketplace taps into Facebook’s community-powered commerce roots. With over 1.2 billion monthly users, it’s evolved far beyond peer-to-peer selling. Today, it supports everything from local businesses to real estate listings to refurbished electronics.

In 2023 alone, Marketplace facilitated more than $26 billion in transactions. It’s also becoming a key entry point for younger buyers—45% of Gen Z users now use Marketplace to discover products. It may have started as a Craigslist alternative. It’s now a full-blown commerce channel.

Mandating in-app checkout for U.S. Shops in 2024 wasn’t just a UX decision—it was a deliberate move. The more of the transaction Facebook owns, the better it can measure, optimize, and monetize the entire journey. And for advertisers, that means tighter attribution and better return.

It also mirrors broader consumer behavior shifts. Seventy-three percent of users say they prefer staying in-app to complete a purchase. Checkout isn’t just a feature—it’s a control point.

Live shopping: small in the U.S., but rising fast

Live commerce is already a $500B market in China. While the U.S. isn’t there yet, early traction is emerging—particularly in beauty, fashion, and wellness. Brands like Walmart and Sephora have run pilot live shopping events on Facebook and Instagram, using influencers to drive real-time engagement across product education, bundling, and impulse conversion. Facebook is working to translate that model for Western audiences. With Live Shopping, brands can stream product demos, answer questions, and enable impulse purchases—all in real time.

While adoption is still early-stage in the U.S., the format is sticky. Viewers spend up to 30% more during live commerce events versus standard e-commerce flows. And as Facebook continues integrating commerce into content, this channel could move from novelty to norm.

More than 175 million people message businesses daily on WhatsApp. Add in Messenger, and conversational commerce starts to look less like an edge case and more like an under-tapped funnel.

Facebook’s push into messaging commerce includes AI-powered bots, product catalog integration, and one-click payments. For service-based businesses or high-touch categories, messaging creates a direct, flexible path to purchase. And for consumers who prefer chat over clicking through a site, it’s simply a better fit.

Platform partnerships: the intersection of social and retail media

Facebook’s commerce playbook is still unfolding—and its most tactical lever may be partnerships that extend the platform’s reach while keeping users in flow. While in-app friction can slow sales, retail media marketers have found that driving social users to popular retailers, where consumers feel most comfortable transacting, can be a compelling offering.

One of the clearest signals of this ambition is Facebook’s partnership with Amazon. As Sarah Perez of TechCrunch put it, “For the first time, customers will be able to shop Amazon’s Facebook and Instagram ads and check out with Amazon without leaving the social media apps.” The checkout process uses saved Amazon payment and shipping info, so it’s fast, familiar, and frictionless.

For Facebook, it’s about owning more of the moment when purchase intent peaks—turning ad views into transactions with fewer steps. And for Amazon, it opens a new gateway to high-intent, mobile-first shoppers scrolling on social. This partnership doesn’t just streamline the buying process; it redefines how brand and platform collaboration can shape the future of digital retail.

Alongside that, a new integration with eBay is bringing listings from one of the internet’s most established marketplaces directly into Facebook Marketplace. eBay’s announcement team framed it simply: “Starting today, we’re thrilled to announce that we’re adding Facebook Marketplace to the growing roster of channels where your listings can be found.” This pilot—live in the U.S., Germany, and France—lets Facebook users browse eBay inventory natively and complete purchases on eBay’s platform.

For Facebook, it’s about boosting selection and retaining shopper attention. For eBay sellers, it’s a new discovery channel powered by intent-rich traffic. The goal is simple: keep users in flow longer, and give sellers more ways to surface relevant products at just the right moment.

Advertising: the engine that ties it all together

None of this commerce infrastructure works without demand generation. That’s where Facebook’s ad platform remains the real engine. With shoppable ad formats, product catalog integration, and AI-assisted campaign tools, the platform continues to collapse the funnel.

Advantage+ Shopping Campaigns are a prime example. These campaigns use machine learning to handle audience targeting and creative optimization dynamically. Early results? 20% higher conversion rates and a 10% drop in cost-per-action. For brands scaling fast, they take a ton of manual overhead off the table.

Then there are Shoppable Ads themselves. These let consumers browse, tap, and buy—without ever leaving the ad unit. According to Facebook, over 60% of users discover new products through ads. Embedding commerce directly in that experience is what shortens the distance between interest and purchase.

And finally, Partnership Ads (a.k.a. Collaborative Ads) allow brands to scale authenticity. By partnering with creators and letting them promote products through their own handles, brands can show up in high-trust environments—and then retarget engaged users with paid media. It’s a loop that blends organic reach with paid efficiency.

Why measurement is the real multiplier

If advertising is the fuel that drives social commerce, measurement is the navigation system—it tells you where to go, what’s working, and where to double down.

As Facebook continues building a more self-contained commerce ecosystem, it’s gaining visibility into every step of the journey. That matters. Because in a space this fast-moving, clarity isn’t a luxury—it’s the lever that lets you scale efficiently.

Facebook’s measurement suite includes conversion tracking, attribution modeling, and real-time campaign performance tools. The advantage here isn’t just precision—it’s speed. When brands can tie performance to actions in-platform (not just clicks or impressions), they’re able to optimize spend, test creative faster, and prove ROI to stakeholders without a mess of guesswork.

Of course, attribution isn’t perfect. Privacy shifts and multi-device behavior complicate the picture. But the more commerce Facebook owns end-to-end—through Shops, checkout, and native transactions—the more it can close that loop.

Measurement is no longer a backend report. It’s the front-end signal system powering decisions in real time.

So where is this all headed?

Facebook isn’t just participating in social commerce—it’s building the infrastructure to dominate it.

We’ve moved past the phase of scattered experiments. Facebook now offers marketers a fully integrated stack: native storefronts, in-app checkout, shoppable ads, messaging tools, and campaign automation that actually learns. It’s no longer just about reach or engagement—it’s about owning more of the full purchase journey and optimizing every step of it.

And it’s not doing it alone. Strategic partnerships with Amazon and eBay show Facebook isn’t trying to replace existing marketplaces—it’s pulling them in. That matters. Because the future of social commerce won’t live in one platform or one format. It’ll be powered by interoperability, convenience, and brands showing up where buying intent already exists.

For marketers, the implications are real. You’re no longer just driving traffic into your owned channels. You’re meeting customers where they already spend time, shortening the path to purchase, and finally getting attribution that reflects real conversion—not just clicks.

What comes next? Expect deeper AI integration, more personalized product experiences, and more seamless paths from content to checkout. And for marketers who get ahead of that curve, the upside isn’t just efficiency—it’s a full-funnel advantage inside the platform where the majority of commerce conversations are already happening.

A final word for brands

This isn’t about “testing” social commerce anymore. It’s about building a real strategy around it.

Facebook offers the most complete commerce stack on any social platform today. The next step? Brands should pick a lane: test native Shops, run shoppable ads, or explore Marketplace with select SKUs. Prioritize one channel where you can win early—and build from there. If you’re a brand aiming to turn social engagement into bottom-line results, this is where you’d start.