Facebook shuttering live shopping features

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Facebook will shut down its live stream shopping feature Oct.  1, 2022 in favor of focusing on short-form video.

Known as Facebook Shopping Live, the initiative was publicly launched in 2020.

Facebook is encouraging users to start using its Reels feature, which has been widely compared to TikTok, which itself has become an emerging source of ecommerce revenue for many brands. Reels also includes an advertising option to help get content in front of new eyeballs.

Reels are also available on Instagram, which is owned by Facebook parent Meta.

Stores can also continue to host live video streams on both platforms, but the ecommerce features will go away Oct. 1. There are some workarounds to this, but losing the ability to showcase products alongside the video stream directly is key.

Meta is not touching other ecommerce integrations on Facebook and Instagram as part of this change, including its partnership with Shopify.

Reels, meanwhile, only allows for short video clips — not longer-form QVC-style streams or ones featuring extensive demos, product breakdowns and interviews. Creators will also lose the ability to directly include ecommerce features in streams that aren’t focused on ecommerce, such as a podcast that wants to sell guests’ products.

Live video shopping on social media has taken a bit of a hit recently — with TikTok reportedly dropping efforts to expand its TikTok Shop feature to the U.S. and parts of Europe.

Shopping via live video has proven popular in Asian markets but appears to have not resonated as well outside of there given news of both strategy shifts.