Facebook to scrap live shopping in October

Meta-owned social media platform Facebook has announced that, from October 1, its live shopping feature will no longer be available.

In a statement, the platform said the decision comes as consumers’ viewing behaviour continues to shift to short-form video.

It added that it is planning to redirect its focus to Reels on both Facebook and Instagram in light of the changes.

Users will still be able to use Facebook Live to broadcast live events, but they will not be able to create product playlists or tag products in their live videos.

Live shopping will still be available through Instagram for merchants that have a shop with a checkout.

Facebook first debuted the live shopping feature in 2018 and has since tested various ways for it to be implemented into the platform.

In November 2021, the company trialled ‘Live Shopping for Creators’ which allowed creators and brands to cross-stream on both their pages.

The platform joins TikTok in scaling back on live shopping, with the video-led social media site also reportedly set to drop its plans of expanding its live e-commerce from the UK into the US and Europe.

According to The Financial Times, the venture struggled to gain traction with consumers and saw a number of internal problems, while influencers also dropped out of the project's initial trial.