How To Sell With Facebook Commerce Manager In 2020

For the longest time, Facebook had been at the forefront of efforts aimed at making it easier for businesses to advertise online through Facebook ads campaigns, promotional posts, etc.

But that’s not all it does – Facebook also helps ecommerce businesses sell their products and services online.

Here is a list of How and Why you should use Facebook Commerce Manager for your e commerce business.

Let’s look at the WHY first:

Why Should I Use Facebook For My E Commerce Business Activities?

Online selling has become an essential part of the game for business owners. 2018 saw a whopping 1.8 billion digital buyers around the world, according to Statista. That is approximately 21.6% of the world’s population.

And this number is only likely to increase.

Selling online, thus, is bound to turn things around for your business. And just having an e commerce website won’t cut it – you need to explore additional avenues to reach your audience too.

And one such avenue is Facebook.

This social media giant wants businesses to fully leverage the power of the platform when it comes to e commerce.

Whether it is Facebook advertising through highly targeted Facebook ads for ecommerce business or Instagram promotion through Instagram ads, the platform helps you reach people who may be interested in your products.

But with the Commerce Manager tool within the Facebook Business Manager app, you can go beyond a Facebook ad campaign and use the platform to effectively sell to your customers – literally!

So, what is Facebook Commerce Manager?

More importantly,

Why Do You Need Commerce Manager?

The short story: The Commerce Manager tool lets you manage all your Facebook e commerce efforts with ease.

The long story:

If you are an online e commerce business, you know that there is a lot more hassle than meets the eye originally.

From finding and reaching customers to managing inventory, payment, and delivery, there are many aspects that need to be taken care of.

The set of tools that you will come to know as Commerce Manager allow you to stay on top of all of these operations in one place.

Who Needs Commerce Manager For E Commerce?

Are you a large e commerce business that uses Shopify stores for the management of your inventory and orders on Marketplace, Instagram, or Facebook page shops?

Or are you a small local business owner who runs a Facebook business page shop to reach your customers?

Whether you fall into these categories or anything between them and beyond, Commerce Manager can help you streamline your operations. You can go from a haphazard array of activities to well-managed operations for your business that will only benefit you in the long run.

What Exactly Can An ECommerce Business do with Facebook Commerce Manager?

This tool within Facebook Ads Manager is a dream for an online merchant.

As we have mentioned before, it helps you carry out all your Facebook business activities that involve selling your products and services from one place.

Want more specific details?

Here is a list of all the things you have control over when you have Commerce Manager on your side:

• Learn all about your customers and how useful your products or services are for them. (You can also use Facebook Audience Insights to learn more about your target audience)

• Just having a Facebook Business Account isn’t enough. Even the most seasoned of business owners need help every now and then to enhance their sales. Facebook Commerce Manager lets you do that and more

• Allow your customers to browse your range of products and/or services so they can learn all about what you have to offer them

• Give your consumers not only the ability to learn all about your products, but the option to buy them directly from Facebook

• View and manage all your past and current orders in one place, without any hassle

• Buying online can sometimes be daunting. With Commerce Manager, however, you can provide consumers with what Facebook refers to as Purchase Protection. This gives them peace of mind by making sure they are protected in case they don’t receive their order, their order is damaged, they receive something different from what they ordered, or they want a refund. Learn all about Facebook’s Purchase Policies here

• Run your e commerce operations with your entire team. In Commerce Manager within Facebook Business Manager, you can assign various roles and permissions to different members of your team. After all, a team effort is what gets the job done

• You don’t need a separate tool to manage your finances – you can get all such information and reports within Commerce Manager so that you always remain on top of your finances

• Get in touch with your customers directly through the Commerce Manager tool for more streamlined operations

How Does Facebook Commerce Manager Work?

Now that we have the what’s and the why’s out of the way, let’s move on to the HOW of this Facebook Commerce guide so you can learn how to use the tool.

Before you can get started, you need to set up a Facebook Commerce Manager account for your business. Do note that the tool is currently only available for businesses in the US.

Step 1:

First of all, go to Commerce Manager by clicking on this link:

www.facebook.com/commerce_manager

Click on the Start Selling button and follow the step-by-step instructions on the screen to set up your account.

NOTE:

• If you want to sell on your Facebook page, you have to make sure that your business operations comply with Facebook’s Merchant Policies, as well as their Commerce Policies

• Selling on Instagram is a little different. Before you can start doing that, you need to make sure your Instagram account is approved. For more details on that, click here. You will also have to add the relevant Instagram account in Facebook Business Manager if you run more than one

• If you want to sell on Marketplace, you need to ensure your eligibility to list retail inventory

Step 2:

Once you have set the tool up, the next step is to choose the channel where you want to sell.

Step 3:

Next, you have to set up the checkout options.

1. First off, you need to link your business accounts.

To do this, on the Sell on Facebook page, you will need to click on the Set Up button. Now you will have to follow the instructions on the screen to add all the required details.

These steps include:

• Specifying whether you have a US bank account or you are based in the US

• Naming your commerce account

• Linking your sales channel (if you chose Facebook as the channel you want to sell on in the previous step, link your Facebook page; if you chose Instagram, link your Instagram account)

• Linking a catalog, although this step can be skipped; you can always add a catalog later if you don’t currently have one

2. Add your shipping options and return policies. Details about the requirements you must follow can be found here

3. Set up your payout information

Here, you have to:

• Add the business address you use for payouts

• Choose which states you want to carry out your sales operations in. You will also need to specify tax registration numbers for each of these states

• Add information about your business, as well as tax information

• Add information about your bank account

Step 4:

Assign roles and permissions to your teammates who will help you leverage the power of Commerce Manager for your operations.

These are the permissions that are available to you:

• View basic details
• Manage chargebacks
• View performance
• Manage orders
• Edit settings
• View finances
• Edit finances
• Manage commerce account

Learn all about what each of these permissions entails here.

And that’s it – with that, your Facebook Commerce Manager is set up!

When you’re done setting up the tool for use, Facebook will ask you to prove your identity for security purposes. You will not receive any payouts until you complete this step.

Details of how you can confirm your identity can be found here.

Now that you’re all set up, let’s go through the tabs you will see in the tool.

Navigating Facebook Commerce Manager For E Commerce Operations

There are a number of tabs that will let you do different things in Commerce Manager.

Let’s take a look at them.

• Home

Just like in Facebook Ads Manager app home, you will be able to see an overview of all your activities in Commerce Manager in this tab.

• Orders

All of the orders will be present in this tab. This includes orders that are pending, those that are awaiting shipping, and the ones that have been completely processed. You can view and manage the orders in bulk, or you can deal with them individually.

Click here for more information regarding dealing with the orders you receive.

• Inventory

You will be able to stay on top of your inventory through Catalog Manager. You will also have the option of adding or removing products here.

• Payouts

This is where you will be able to view all your finance- and tax-related information, including that of payouts.

• Tax

You will find your tax information here, as well as some shipping information. Facebook also provides you with a tax calculator that can be accessed from this tab.

• Disputes

Customers may occasionally have complaints or other issues concerning orders may arise – you can see and deal with them in this tab.

• Insights

Remember how we said Commerce Manager not only helps you sell but also enhance the way in which you sell? This is the tab where you make that happen. Using the overview of activities and sales visible in this section, as well as the tips Facebook provides to improve your operations, you can increase your sales.

• Settings

The settings tab, as is evident by the name, lets you adjust your preferences when it comes to using the tools. You can add and edit information here, as and when you need.

• Account Health

Your account health is determined by the way customers view you – this can be seen here in the form of reviews, performance, and the way in which consumers rate your products.

• Education

The sole purpose of this tab is to educate you about your responsibilities as a seller, as well as help you run the tool better. You can also access answers to FAQs so that you are fully aware of the ins and outs of the tool.

On top of that, you can also get direct help from Facebook. In this tab, click on the Contact Us button, explain your concerns, and send the message. A Facebook representative will reach out to you through your business email address.

Fulfilling E-commerce Orders Through Commerce Manager

Fulfilling the orders you receive is, in essence, a journey that takes you around the tool. The basic flow of this process goes something like this:

1. View and ship the order (Orders tab)
2. Mark it as shipped (Orders tab)
3. View payout information (Payouts tab)
4. Solve Disputes (Disputes tab)

Start Selling the Smart Way

You’ve used the Facebook/Instagram ads manager and Facebook ad accounts to advertise on the social media platforms.

You have used Creative Hub to draft the perfect Facebook ads for ecommerce.

Facebook page manager and Facebook Pixel are two of your most used tools.

Now it’s time to expand your horizons.

Use the Facebook Commerce Manager tool and ace social media selling like you didn’t know was possible.

With a few minor changes to your strategy for Facebook marketing, ecommerce can become your strength on the social platform in no time at all.

And as always, reach out to us if you have any trouble getting started!