Everything You Need To Know About The 2023 Changes To Meta Shops Have Settled – Jan 2024

At the end of April 2023, Meta announced that they would be making changes to Shops across their platforms, with different changes applying to different regions. This blog will look into what the changes were, and how the changes have impacted Meta Sho use across the world.

To start, this article was edited on January 23rd 2024. Therefore, the information you are about to read (depending on when you are reading it) may be out of date. I suggest checking out the following Facebook sources to enhance the information you are about to read:

a) Changes to Shops: Europe, Middle East and Africa

b) Changes to Shops: US

c) Changes to Shops: Americas outside the US

d) Changes to Shops: Asia-Pacific

e) Commerce eligibility requirements

f) Supported markets for commerce surfaces on Facebook

g) Eligible countries for shopping on Instagram

 

Changes to Meta Shops in EEMA

As of August 10th 2023, Meta Shops is only available to be used in Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the UK and Ukraine. While Meta Shops on Facebook and Instagram and associated features are no longer available in any other countries across Europe, the Middle East and Africa.On top of the above, the Meta Shop experience has changed for people based in the following countries, regardless of where the shop they’re viewing is located:

The EEA (Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Republic of Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden) & Switzerland & The UK

Though users based in these countries can still:

• Find your shop through the Facebook or Instagram app on Apple or Android devices
• See product details pages and product tags
• Follow links from product details pages to check out on your website

Changes to Meta Shops support in the US:

As of June 5th 2023, new shops via the Commerce Manager and Shopify can only be created or onboarded with Checkout with Facebook or Instagram. This means that each shop must have a full Facebook/Instagram Checkout process enabled ensuring that the customer completes the sale on the platform. Onboarding of new shops via other partners must have Checkout Enabled by August 10th 2023.

Pre-existing shops will have already started to see the limitations, as beginning April 24th 2023 – support for shops without Checkout with Facebook or Instagram enabled will end.

TLDR: Shops must use Facebook or Instagram Checkout in their shops.

More information on Facebook & Instagram Shops 

 

Changes to Shops: Americas outside the US

Shops in Brazil, Canada and Mexico can continue using Meta Shops and associated features until Meta decides otherwise, meaning shops are no longer available in all other countries in South and Central America. This includes product tagging (in posts, Reels and stories) and creating custom and lookalike audiences derived from people who visited a shop.

Changes to Shops: Asia-Pacific

Shops in Australia, India, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand can continue using Meta Shops and associated features until Meta decides otherwise, meaning shops are no longer available in all other countries in all other countries in APAC. This includes product tagging (in posts, Reels and stories) and creating custom and lookalike audiences derived from people who visited a shop. Users can no longer see your shops and associated features if your shop is located in these countries.

What can we do instead of using a Shop on Facebook and/or Instagram?

If you can’t run a Meta shop any longer, we believe the next best bet is to pivot to another sales channel – Google Merchant Center. While Amazon does offer a very good service, Google, via Google Merchant Center and Google Ads, offers a way to reach customers across numerous touch points in their day including Google Shopping (free and paid), YouTube, Discovery, and Display Ads.

At the Google Marketing Live 2023 events, Google revealed the launch of a simplified and automated version of Merchant Center – called Google Merchant Center Next which brings a number of significant benefits for users. Check out Nicola’s blog on everything Google Merchant Center Next.

Introducing Google Merchant Center Next
If you are interested in setting up and running a Google Merchant Center or would like more information on how you could limit Meta’s new changes, feel free to contact our expert team at support@glowmetrics.com.

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