Facebook to shut down its live shopping feature

The tech giant, Facebook has decided to shut down its live shopping feature from October 1 onwards. The company now plans to shift its focus to Reels, as announced in a blog post. Post this shutdown, scheduling or hosting live shopping events will be unavailable. However, the users may be able to use Facebook Live to broadcast live events, but creating product playlists or tagging products in Facebook Live videos would no longer be possible.

Facebook started live streaming video shopping two years back, following a series of smaller trials and beta tests. The feature was designed to give creators and brands an interactive way to sell items, connect with viewers and potentially gain new customers. However, Facebook says it’s now shifting away from live video shopping to focus on Reels.

“As consumers’ viewing behaviors are shifting to short-form video, we are shifting our focus to Reels on Facebook and Instagram, Meta’s short-form video product,” the company said in the blog post. “If you want to reach and engage people through video, try experimenting with Reels and Reels ads on Facebook and Instagram. You can also tag products in Reels on Instagram to enable deeper discovery and consideration. If you have a shop with checkout and want to host Live Shopping events on Instagram, you can set up Live Shopping on Instagram.

Facebook isn’t the only digital giant looking to scale back its live shopping plans, as it was TikTok also recently dropped plans to expand its live e-commerce “TikTok Shop” initiative to the U.S. and additional parts of Europe. The company launched TikTok Shop in the U.K. last year, its first market outside Asia, allowing companies and influencers to sell products through QVC-style livestreams. The Financial Times reported that the expansion plans were abandoned after influencers dropped out of the project in the U.K.