Today we launched Facebook Shops to make it easy for businesses to set up a single online store for customers to access on Facebook and Instagram. This means any seller, no matter their size or budget, can bring their business online and connect with customers wherever and whenever it’s convenient for them. We built Shops with privacy in mind to help you feel comfortable browsing products and making purchases.
Who sees my information and activity?
Your activity in Facebook Shops will not be shared with your friends or to your profile or feed, unless you choose to share it. For example, you may choose to send an item you’re interested in to a friend via WhatsApp or Messenger or add it to your Instagram Story. When you browse a business’s shop, we share aggregated insights with the business about shop performance and traffic, but we don’t share information that personally identifies you, such as your name or email address that can be used by itself to identify or contact you, unless you give us permission to do so.
If you make a purchase from a business’ shop using Facebook Pay on Facebook or checkout on Instagram, the business will receive your delivery and contact information. Note: Facebook Pay and checkout are currently only available in the US if the merchant has enabled onsite checkout.
How does my activity in Facebook Shops impact data collection and the ads I see?
As with other parts of Facebook, we use your activity from Facebook Shops to personalize your experience on our apps and show you more relevant content, including ads. This means your activity across our apps may influence what you see in Shops, and your activity in Shops may influence what you see elsewhere on Facebook and Instagram. For example, if you look through collections of bicycles in Shops, you might see more content, including ads, about bicycles in feed, stories, Explore and other places across our apps.
If you make a purchase in Shops with Facebook Pay on Facebook or with checkout on Instagram, we will collect information in order to help complete your purchase, such as the payment method, transaction date, billing, shipping and contact details. We will securely store and encrypt your payment card numbers. And the payment card numbers you provide will not be used to personalize your experience or inform the ads you see.
To learn more about the information Facebook collects and how it’s used, check out our Data Policy and How Ads Work.
What choices and controls do I have?
When using Shops, you can either purchase from a business on their website or directly on Facebook or Instagram if the merchant has enabled Facebook Pay or checkout. If you use Facebook Pay on Facebook or checkout on Instagram to make a purchase, you can choose whether you want to opt in to receive marketing emails from the business. You’ll also be able to add or remove payment methods and view transactions on Facebook or Instagram.
Shops is part of our ongoing work to make shopping more convenient, accessible and secure for people on our apps. Our goal is to help businesses grow and empower people everywhere to buy and sell things online.