Facebook is launching a new ecommerce feature for small businesses via its Facebook and Instagram platforms. 

The new “Shops” service is marketed as a tool for small businesses and marks a further push into ecommerce by Facebook as a reaction to the ongoing coroanvirus crisis. 

Facebook said: “Right now many small businesses are struggling, and with stores closing, more are looking to bring their business online. We want to help small businesses adapt and make it easier for people to discover and shop for things they love.”

Businesses can now set up single online store accessible by customers via Facebook and Instagram with a checkout feature to enable in-app purchases. The service is free, and sellers can customise the look and feel of their shop with graphics and imagery. 

It will also allow customers to message businesses through Facebook’s chat services – WhatsApp, Messenger or Instagram Direct – to ask questions, get support and track deliveries.

The service launched in the US yesterday and will become more widely avaliable in the coming months. 

It will initially be accessible via a business’s Facebook Page or Instagram profile, or through stories or adverts. However, later this year Facebook will add a new shop tab into the navigation bar on Instagram. 

Facebook currently allows sales on the platform through “Marketplace”, which launched in 2016 for users to sell personal belongings to each other.