As e-commerce is starting to take hold of the shopping market, Facebook steps up to provide easy ways to utilise its services with minimum disruption to in-app experience.
Facebook has increased the presence of its payment service through Facebook Pay, mainly due to the growing requirements of digital payment methods.
Facebook has extended its reach outside the social media platform and allowed online merchants to add the service as a method of payment directly on their websites.
Facebook said, "Businesses in the US that use participating platforms can use Facebook Pay as a payment option directly on their websites”. It gives customers the ability to speed up their payments through checkout without having to re-enter their payment information.
“We’re starting the rollout with Shopify merchants and expect to expand the availability of the service with more platforms and payment service providers over time," Facebook said.
Facebook Pay is designed to help businesses drive conversion higher by giving customers a low-friction and mobile-friendly way to pay online.
People are already utilising Facebook Pay to send money, shop, donate and carry out various other transactions, but the service was limited only to its social media platform which restricts users’ to shop for their favorite products. With the new extended service, customers can get a seamless checkout experience when they shop for their favorite goods.
It will provide a big boost to Facebook’s e-commerce options, as it establishes the trust of people with its appearance on other reputable websites giving both advertising and exposure to the company.
Facebook Pay was launched in late 2019 and it works across the social media giant’s various apps - Messenger, Instagram, and WhatsApp. With the breakthrough, the company competes with established payment giants such as Google Pay and Apple Pay.
Apple is also working to expand its payment systems, as it incorporates a new feature that allows users to purchase Apple products in instalments.
Facebook tries to establish its hold in the market as it rolled out the ability for Messenger users in the US to leverage QR codes and payment links when sending or requesting money with Facebook Pay. It can be done even if they’re not connected with Facebook.
Any payment details through Facebook Pay are encrypted. The card and bank account numbers that people provide "will not be used to personalise their experience or inform the ads they see". The organisation will still record data on people’s purchases to provide a big boost in ad targeting options.