Facebook Marketplace was launched in 2016 as a place for people to buy and sell in their communities. Think Craigslist, but with Messenger.
Of course, the Facebook Marketplace could have started as an online garage sale. It’s an e-commerce powerhouse these days. The platform receives about a billion visitors a month. Since these people are already browsing the site, they are likely highly motivated potential buyers.
Companies can use advanced personalization, create listings for mobile devices, and run advertising campaigns.
So how does the Facebook Marketplace work? How can companies sell and advertise on the platform? Read our complete guide to the benefits of Facebook Marketplace for business.
What is the Facebook marketplace?
Facebook Marketplace is an online shopping channel. It is an e-commerce platform where Facebook users can buy and sell products from each other on the spot.
You can access the Facebook Marketplace on the Facebook mobile app and on desktop:
- On mobile, tap the three vertical lines at the bottom right corner of the screen. On the shortcuts page, scroll to the Marketplace icon at the bottom of the screen.
- On your desktop, click the storefront icon located on the top navigation bar. You can also select the Facebook Marketplace option from the menu on the left.
Facebook Marketplace organizes listings into 19 categories, including:
- Cloth
- Electronics
- Entertainment
- Garden and outdoor
- Hobbies
- Household products
- Pet supplies
- Toys and games
Buyers can filter their search by price and location. They can even save lists for future reference. Sellers can add up to ten images to Facebook Marketplace listings and ads.
Interested buyers can message sellers directly in Messenger.
How can you use Facebook Marketplace for your business?
Facebook Marketplace is a powerful tool for any retail business. Knowing its use cases will help you make the most of its features.
List retail inventory
Use Facebook Marketplace to list all of your store’s retail inventory. Beauty brands may list products, and car dealerships may list in-stock vehicles.
Displaying products from the Facebook or Instagram store
If you have a Facebook or Instagram store, you can add Marketplace as a sales channel and reach more people.
Enabling Facebook verification allows customers to make purchases through the Marketplace without leaving the platform.
Sell from a business account
Anyone can sell products on the Facebook Marketplace. Business accounts simply have access to more features.
Facebook business accounts can:
- Advertise your store or products on the Marketplace to reach more people, even if your business is not listed directly on the Marketplace.
- Create a store with your business page and sell like a business (only for eligible sellers and products).
- Show inventory for retail merchandise, vehicles, and event tickets.
Run ads that work on Marketplace
Facebook Marketplace ads appear in the feed when someone is browsing.
The advantage of these ads is that they reach people when they are already shopping. Your ad appears next to other relevant products and services. Interested customers can find out more on the Marketplace or visit your website.
Ads in Marketplace appear as Sponsored:
Source: Facebook Business Guide.
7 Benefits of Facebook Marketplace for Business
As Facebook seeks to connect people, Marketplace is a great place to build customer relationships.
The Facebook Marketplace also attracts one billion monthly visitors. This makes it ideal for showcasing your products to more people.
Here are eight top benefits of using Facebook Marketplace for business.
1. Increase your brand awareness
Building brand awareness is one of the fastest ways to increase sales. And Facebook Marketplace can help introduce your brand and products to new customers.
In fact, every month, a million users shop at Facebook stores. Brands are also seeing huge results. Some report that the cost of orders in stores is 66% higher than on their websites.
The best part? Facebook Marketplace visitors are already looking for products to buy. You just have to make sure they see yours first.
Use Facebook’s 19 categories to introduce your product to interested buyers:
These top-level categories are broken down into specific subcategories:
Place your products in categories that appeal to your target audience so they are more likely to find your products when browsing.
Aim to grow your Facebook Marketplace profile as well. The more people who follow your business, the more your products will appear in people’s feed. Do this by posting clear product images and writing informative product descriptions.
The Facebook ads you create for your products also appear in Marketplace.
Once you’ve grown your customer base on Facebook, it’s time to focus on building strong customer relationships.
2. Strengthen customer relationships
Facebook is a peer-to-peer platform, so you have a unique opportunity to build relationships with buyers in real time.
Sales that start on Facebook Messenger allow you to communicate directly with customers. In addition, people are 53% more likely to shop with businesses they can send a message to.
Facebook provides suggested questions to buyers, but they can also send their own messages to sellers:
Earn customer trust by quickly answering questions and providing all requested information.
Sam Speller, founder of Kenko Matcha, says one-on-one communication is a huge benefit:
“We were able to interact with people who were looking for our product, which was always difficult to do before. Before Facebook Marketplace, there was no place where buyers and sellers could directly interact with each other. Now customers can start their transaction right away, bypassing intermediaries.” — Sam Speller
As you grow your business and sell more items, you may receive more messages. If your inbox starts to fill up, a chatbot can help make sure you respond in a timely manner.
Chatbots, such as Heyday support, suggest related products and answer customer questions. If you’re manipulating posts from multiple sources, Heyday can help. The application combines customer chats from Facebook, email and WhatsApp into one inbox.
3. You can post products for free
Facebook Marketplace does not charge sellers a cent. Listing is free no matter how many products you list. You don’t have to pay anything to maintain an account or product listings. You only pay commission when you sell a product.
The Facebook Sell Fee is 5% for shipping or a $0.40 flat fee for shipping $8 or less. This sales commission includes taxes and payment processing costs. This also applies to all checkout activities for all product categories on Facebook and Instagram.
Please remember that Facebook Marketplace listings must comply with the platform’s Commercial Policy and Community Standards.
4. Check lists of new products/services
Since posting a product listing is free, Facebook Marketplace is a great place to test product ideas.
Facebook does the targeting for you, so it’s easier to check if a new product resonates with your primary target audience.
Try using the Marketplace to experiment with different pricing strategies. Then see how your audience reacts to price increases or discounts.
Tip: Consider offering your audience exclusive access to discounts through the Facebook Marketplace. This is a good way to increase customer loyalty.
5. Click on Facebook Personalization
Facebook allows you to target people who have made a purchase from your store or have followed your Page. You can also attract new buyers who match your core audience profiles.
The Today’s Choice area shows relevant products based on the user’s browsing history:
The Find to Buy feature displays relevant products based on the communities users belong to.
You can also use Facebook ads to target people who have made a purchase from your store or have followed your Page. These people are more likely to buy from you again.
To do this, you can create a lookalike audience or an ad affinity audience:
6. Mobile Lists
Facebook Marketplace automatically generates listings for mobile devices. 98% of Facebook users log in from their mobile phones, and 81.8% of people only access the platform through mobile devices.
Luckily, you don’t have to worry about tailoring your list to appeal to these mobile users.
7. Determine customer preferences and top selling products
Facebook Marketplace makes it easy to see what types of products are most popular. This way, you can make more accurate sales forecasts and store popular items.
To see what sells best on Facebook Marketplace, browse the categories. Here you can see which products are the best sellers in their categories.
You can also identify popular products by visiting business pages. Whenever you click on a page, you will see the top performing products appear first.
How to Sell on Facebook Marketplace as a Business
There are three main options for selling on the Facebook Marketplace as a business. Here are step-by-step instructions for setting up Facebook Marketplace for Business.
1. Show inventory for retail items
Businesses and Facebook users can easily list retail products on the Facebook Marketplace.
1. To get started, click “Create a New Listing”in the left navigation menu.
2. Then select the ad type.
3. Select up to 10 photos. Quality photos are always better!
4. Add a title, price, subcategory, condition, description, and availability.
5. You can also add color, product tags and WeU number. If you wish, you can post your approximate location.
It is better to fill in all the data. Interested buyers want to see all the information they need before making a decision.
2. Display items from the store on your Facebook page
Facebook shops have a total of 250 million monthly visitors. It is a huge shopping channel that can give you a single presence on Facebook, Instagram and Facebook Marketplace.
Before you can get started, you need to set up a Facebook checkout for your store.
To add Marketplace as a sales channel:
1. Go to Commerce Manager and select your store.
2. On the menu on the left, click Settings.
3. Click Business Assets.
4. Select Enable Marketplace.
Suitable products appear on the Marketplace within 24 hours.
3. Sell like a business on Marketplace
This is currently only available to select sellers. Facebook is rolling out this new Marketplace selling feature throughout 2022. Instead of having to link the Marketplace to your personal Facebook account or Store, you can sell as a business on the Marketplace.
How to advertise on the Facebook marketplace
Advertising your products on Facebook Marketplace can help your business reach more customers. Marketplace ads currently reach a huge global audience of 562 million people worldwide.
Advertisers are reporting significant increases in conversion rates compared to ad placement in the feed.
Source: Facebook Business Guide.
As an added bonus, your ads will also appear in the feed.
Here’s our step-by-step guide to setting up Facebook Marketplace ads.
1. Go to the Ads Manager tool.
Sign in to Facebook Ads Manager. Select a campaign objective.
Choose between these categories:
- Brand recognition
- Achieve
- Movement
- Video views
- Lead generation
- Event responses
- Messages
- Conversions
- Sales by catalog
- Store traffic
Then click Continue.
2. Set your budget and schedule
Choose between setting a lifetime budget or a daily budget. Determine the start date for your advertising campaign and choose an end date.
3. Choose your audience
Define your targeting by setting options such as:
- Location
- Age
- Floor
You can also target any saved audience.
4. Decide where to place your ad
Choose between automatic or manual placement.
Automatic placements allow the Facebook delivery system to split your budget across multiple placements. The platform will place your ad where it will be most effective.
Manual placements mean that you choose where your ads appear.
Facebook recommends using automatic placements. If you choose manual placement, please note that you will not be able to advertise on Marketplace only. Every Facebook ad campaign must include a Feed.
Click “Next”when you’re done.
5. Choose an ad format
Add media and text for your ad. You can also change your media and text for each ad placement.
Be sure to add:
- Pictures or videos
- Main text
- header
- Description
The recommended specifications for videos and images are the same as for Feed. Please note that you cannot crop or upload unique creatives for Marketplace ads. Before uploading images, make sure the ad size is correct.
Then select the call to action button.
6. Choose your destination
Decide where you want to send people when they click the CTA button.
7. Publish and Wait for Review
Once you’ve completed these steps, click Publish.
Facebook will then review and (hopefully) approve your ad. People will then be able to see it by browsing the Marketplace on the Facebook mobile app.
And that’s the end of your Facebook Marketplace ad setup!