If you have started an online e-commerce business, the most effective way to improve your sales is by leveraging facebook buy and sell feature. Facebook has over 2.5 billion active users every single month, which means it has a lot of potentials to convert these users.
 

Facebook has its own store/shop where you can sell your products to reach a larger audience. Along with large online stores like Amazon, Flipkart and Paytm, Facebook has great potential too for buying and selling your products. With more than 2.5 billion people on FB, it's worth setting up a Facebook store page to reach them.
 

There are two ways to sell on Facebook store:
 

1. Build your own website to create an online store then link all the products to the Facebook store. This requires a little bit of technical knowledge and is not very difficult to set up. Top e-commerce platforms like Shopify, Magento, OpenCart lets you create an online store, list and sell products in Fb store They have automated order and shipping management tools which saves a lot of time.

2. The second most basic way of selling is using FB itself to create your Facebook store and put a shopping cart to connect payments. 
   
   In our opinion, it is better to go with option number 1 because it gives you more space to expand - on FB and outside FB.
   
   FB has limited functions as compared to another e-commerce platform like - fewer payment options, selling physical products only and some options are only available in India. By having your own website and then connecting on FB, you will be able to access benefits from both.
    

Facebook Shop:
 

For you to use facebook shop, you need first set up your Facebook business page. Next step would be to join your e-commerce online platform to Facebook or make a separate product category manually. After this, advertise your facebook shop using boost posts, contest and ads.
 

Platforms like Magento, Opencart syncs your product listing as well as manage sales, customers, orders, and inventory in one place, which makes it easier for you to sell on Facebook.

How to sell on Facebook?
 

Facebook Shop is a convenient place for people to buy, sell and discover new products.   

Here are the steps on how to use the Facebook shop feature:
 

1. Create your own Facebook business page - Setting up a Facebook shop will need a facebook business page, it cannot be done via your personal account. The shopping features are only applicable to business pages.
   
   A separate business page is important for your own business as well as a facebook shop. It gives an edge on marketing in your budget and helps in reaching out to a wider audience(more than 2.4 billion users). Another reason for making your own facebook page is people check out the business pages before buying stuff to make sure they are buying from authentic brands, you should put in the effort to polish your page.
   
   Once you are done with the Facebook business page, you will be able to create your Facebook shop. Facebook Shop requires a list of products and a facility with which customers can place orders and make payments through Facebook. The best way is to use a facebook friendly e-commerce platform. 
    

2. Evaluate your options for selling on FB - Facebook gives a complete in-app shopping experience via Facebook Shop. If you already have an e-commerce platform like Magento, Opencart, you just need to sync your account with Facebook and then can start selling. Main benefits of using these e-commerce platforms are 1) it is time saving and 2) using these platforms lets you sell anywhere - Amazon, eBay, Flipkart, Paytm etc. Using these platforms, you can reach the audience beyond Facebook. From product entry to shipping, everything is smooth and automated.
   
   Another way of doing it is by uploading the products manually on Facebook - this is the best way if you want to sell specific products and not all from the catalogue. One disadvantage is that since you are manually managing all the products, it’s time-consuming and tedious.
    

3. Marketing your Facebook Shop products - the Best part about using Facebook shop is your products and audience both are already present there which means you can start promoting them through FB posts and ads - by using feature products and boost posts, running FB ads of these featured products, hosting contests and giving offers.
   
   Facebook has a large audience which makes it easier for your paid or free promotions and increased engagement on FB means more sales. This is the reason why FB is becoming the most powerful tool for small, big and medium-sized enterprises.
   
   Selling these products on FB doesn't involve many risks. The only thing you need to keep in mind is that you should not be selling any trademarked products as this will lead to suspension of your account. You should always be selling your own products. 
   
   You can also use Instagram to promote your products, you just need to connect your business page with an approved catalogue.
    

4. Facebook can be used as a traffic driver - Facebook always keeps examining you where you browse online, what activity you are doing, what videos you watch etc. Then it brings more such posts to your attention. Facebook is a social media and a way to connect with other like-minded individuals, companies and groups. This can be used as an added advantage and help you earn money. You don’t have to sell anything on the platform to earn money but rather drive people to click on the links that are linked to your online store, landing pages or other websites. Strong marketing copies and compelling offers can drive in a lot of qualified traffic who are really interested in buying your products.
    

5. Generate leads using FB -  One other way is to earn money is by building your own facebook page and actively posting on the group to get the potential leads for your business. Try to put out all the useful content including your links to your business website and landing page to engage with users and get them to sign up to your list.
    

6. Using Facebook ads to generate more leads - In this case, you have to spend money to earn some money. You must have seen little banners on the right side of the FB page and some sponsored posts that show up on your feed - they are all ads. Ads show up on the basis of cookies that follow you when you are browsing online, so these ads are something that might be of your interest and are more likely to engage in these ads.
   This method can be a little expensive, so you have to be careful while spending because you might spend a lot of money with zero return. In a similar fashion, we see posts being boosted. When you see a post working well and has good engagement numbers, you could put some extra money and boost such posts which will put it at the top of viewers, increasing its chances of doing even better.
   
   
   Related: How to become an Amazon Reseller - 6 Tips to Start Making Money from Amazon 2020