Nowadays, shop owners and online sellers are using Facebook as their main marketing platform by live streaming on Facebook to showcase the products that they are selling to Facebook users. Facebook has caught up with the trend and is testing out a new feature made specifically for merchants to allow them to sell items efficiently while live streaming.
The new feature works whereby users are able to see a screenshot button that allows them to capture the image of the item that they want to buy and message the merchant directly. The merchant would then be able to send payment request through Messenger to streamline the process.
The new feature is not available yet, but its currently being tested in Thailand, where a community of online sellers have recently taken to Facebook Live to sell a variety of products, from cosmetics to handbags and other fashion item.
Currently, most online sellers are still using the manual way to record their sales, such as asking their fans to message them through Messenger or writing down the names of their buyers to send them the payment information after. The new feature would make it less confusing for both buyers and sellers, as a broadcast can sometimes move quickly as sellers shift from one product to the next.
For now, Facebook mentioned that they will not take any cut of the payments made through live streams. It is also unsure whether or not if the feature would exit Thailand, should it be officially launched later. This is definitely a feature that we’re looking forward to, we shall wait for their next update.