Shopify, which helps small businesses hit the web with an attractive site and easy-to-navigate digital storefront, is taking things to the next level by allowing shops to sell directly through a new platform: Facebook Messenger.
Though the service has had the ability to chat with customers via Messenger before, Shopify's new venture allows retailers to have their wares explored, detailed, and purchased entirely within Facebook's messaging app.
This isn't the first time users have been able to use Messenger for monetary transactions. The app's chatbot functionality uses services like Venmo, Paypal, and Square so users can send each other money without leaving the app, and can even tell when you owe a buddy for something.
However, Shopify's new functionality is special in that it brings a fully-functional store to the app. Even similar Messenger add-ons like Spring, which finds for-sale fashion selections based on the user's taste, still require leaving the chat room to finalize purchases or talk with a representative.
The news also comes just a couple days after Facebook released its Marketplace platform for its main site, opening up the ability to buy and sell directly through the site to all of its users. That said, the service is designed more for personal yard sale-style transactions than day-to-day business, like Shopify's Mesenger integration does.
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