Expanding access to AI-powered shops ads to improve campaign performance

To help businesses drive sales during the current economic downturn, we’re investing in AI and automation tools that can improve campaign performance through Shops ads and our Meta Advantage suite.

This year, we will:

• Introduce Shops ads to thousands of new US businesses to make it easier for people to purchase directly from ads, either in our apps or on a business’ website
• Move Shops ads under our Advantage portfolio, so all our ad automation tools can be found in one place
• Make it easier for US businesses to set up a Shop with in-app checkout so people can complete a purchase on Facebook or Instagram in just a few taps; and
• Test new Shops tools like ratings and reviews, buyer email opt-in, and dynamic product pages to give businesses more ways to connect with customers and promote their products

To focus on bringing these Shops ads and checkout tools to more businesses, we will no longer support Shops without checkout in several markets. Businesses in these markets can continue to connect with customers through personalized ads, Reels and business messaging.

• In the US, we will focus on helping businesses add checkout to their Shop. To ease the transition, we will continue to support Shops that link to a website until April 24, 2024.
• In select markets where we see a future opportunity to introduce checkout, we’ll continue to support Shops that link to a website to make the transition as easy as possible.
• All other markets will no longer be able to host a Shop on their Facebook or Instagram page or use product tagging in posts beginning on August 10, 2023.

With these changes, we can learn what works best for people and businesses in the US before expanding this suite of tools to more countries.

Businesses are seeing better ad performance with Advantage+ and Shops ads

By using Advantage+ shopping campaigns with checkout-enabled Shops, businesses of all sizes have found new customers by making it easier for people to purchase at the moment of discovery.

Our tests show that campaigns using Shops ads outperformed website-only campaigns with a cost per action and return on ad spend improvement of 20% on average.¹ And in a recent A/B test in March 2023, Zox, a one-of-a-kind wristband company, saw over 10% improvement in cost per purchase and over 20% improvement in return on ad spend when selecting “website and Shop” in their Advantage+ shopping campaigns versus website only.