The Facebook and Instagram Shop Restrictions

Published: 18th September 2023

Are you aware of the alterations that took place in Meta from April to August 2023?

These modifications have altered the way residents of the United Kingdom can use Meta Shopping.

As a result of offsite depreciation, residents of the UK, EEA, and Switzerland will find that certain features of Facebook and Instagram Shops will not be available. This includes most shop-related functions.

In contrast, individuals living in the United States will not be affected by these changes and will continue to enjoy full access to all features.

The following features will not be accessible to users in EEA, UK and Switzerland after the roll-out:

– The entry points to Shop included in Facebook or Instagram Account page (“View Shop” button)

– the Shop Storefront

– Search bar

– Wishlist

– Collections, and related features in Product Detail Pages

– Specifically in the Product Detail Pages: Offers, Promotions, Questions & Answers, Ratings, Reviews, Community Media, labels (e.g. sale), a few product grids (e.g., “Previously viewed”).

As of August 25th 2023, all updates to meta have been made and most of the EEA, UK and Switzerland no longer to the above-listed features. Meta apologised for any inconvenience this has caused for both shoppers and sellers.

Meta-Commerce Limitations Restrict Advertising Potential

After Meta made the announcement on the 27th of April 2023 regarding changes to the commence shops on Meta, they began taking action on the 10th of August.

Currently, the UK have a lack of access to meta-commerce features. The majority of UK sellers are not able to view shop fronts, which is causing a hindrance in advertising their product catalogue. This lack of access has caused some frustration among UK sellers as they are unable to fully utilise the potential of social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram.

This limitation has put the UK’s online sellers at a disadvantage compared to their international counterparts. The inability to access meta-commerce features is a significant roadblock in their efforts to reach a wider audience and could lead to a loss of potential sales.

As a result of a recent update to Meta Shop, the majority of UK shoppers are unable to view shop fronts and are experiencing difficulties when it comes to creating and viewing product wish lists. This means that they are unable to save products for later and may miss out on purchasing items that they were interested in.

Additionally, some shoppers are unable to see collections and relevant product descriptions, which can lead to confusion and frustration. Furthermore, they are unable to view product detail pages which is also causing issues for UK shoppers.

These are a few of the issues UK Instagram and Facebook shoppers are facing due to Metas updates.

It hasn’t been said when or if these issues will be resolved for people living in the UK, EEA, and Switzerland.

Meta is encouraging users across all regions to continue using a mixture of free and paid tools to find their customers and drive sales with a significant push on using the following:

Personalised ads: By utilising personalised ads, you can now reach out to potential customers based on their individual interests. With the global availability of Advantage+ shopping campaigns, you can gain valuable insights into which campaigns are most effective in generating conversions. This knowledge can help you to optimise the ROI of your investments and make better-informed decisions about your marketing strategies.

Reels: Short-form video content can be an incredible asset when it comes to showcasing your brand to potential customers. In fact, Reels have quickly become one of the most popular formats on Meta apps. When combined with Feed, stories, and messaging, Meta offers a powerful suite of tools that can help you tell your brand’s story, foster meaningful connections with your audience, and ultimately grow your business. So, if you’re looking for a new and innovative way to get your brand out there, creating Reels on Meta might just be the perfect solution for you.

Messaging: Through various social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, click-to-message ads are a great way to establish immediate communication with potential and current customers. Messaging allows you to effectively promote and market your products while simultaneously providing support and sales assistance, all without having to exit the chat dialogue.

Our team of experts can help you with your business by managing your social media accounts, creating compelling content, and developing effective ad campaigns that target your desired audience.

We have a deep understanding of social media algorithms, which enables us to optimise your posts and ads to reach your target audience. We also offer detailed analytics and reporting that allows you to track the success of your campaigns and make informed decisions. With Falcon Digital, you can ensure that your social media presence is elevated, and your business is reaching its full potential.

Subscribe to Falcon Digital

Subscribe to Falcon Digital to learn more about our products, receive news and be the first to know when we release offers.

Andrew North

2023-11-30

Falcon is an amazing company to work with. They understood our needs straight away and delivered an excellent website. We benefited from the charity scheme. It's great, and it demonstrates the ethos of Falcon.

Rosie O’Neill

2023-11-13

A massive massive thank you to Charlie and the team from everyone at The Meadowside Charity!!! We really appreciate you doing a full overhaul and providing us with a wonderful new website!!! Thank you so much!❤️⭐️ would 100% recommend

Maureen Frost

2023-09-07

I have been working with the team at Falcon Digital on the ongoing development of the Devon Women in Business website. Charlie has developed a great site, finding ways to overcome obstacles to ensure that all of our directory, membership and event booking functions are working smoothly. If you need a new website or your existing one is in need of a revamp then give Falcon Digital a try

Anton Perrins

2023-08-09

Charlie and his team are a great bunch, previous web guys were a disaster and Charlie and his team did everything they could to sort out the mess of a website I was built. There has been a few ups and downs but to be honest that’s mainly on my part as we had such a bad experience with the last guy, but charlie stuck with us even though I have given him some headaches. He has done a great job and continues to maintain our site.

Joseph

2023-05-24

We didn't envisage a new website would make such a difference. Thanks to Charlie and his team our footfall has quadrupled to the point that we have had to hire extra staff to cover the increase in sales. the impact on our support side has also expanded with more Businesses onboarding. Only headache is that we will have to plan more recruitment interviews going forward.

Sabrina

2023-05-24

Huge thanks to the guys at Falcon Digital for re-designing a website for us and sorting out our SEO! The whole page looks incredible and we have had some amazing feedback from our clients on it. The support and help we have had from Charlie and Evi has been amazing. Could not reccomend them enough!!

Louise and Maureen.

2023-04-05

Falcon Digital are Platinum Sponsors of Devon Women in Business and developed our website from scratch. We're delighted with the results and enjoy working with Charlie and the team. Highly recommended.

Adam Wiles

2023-03-29

Knowledgable and friendly team who approached us with an amazing website re-design. Very professional work and approachable. Pleasantly surprised to also see how affordable they are. Will certainly be the company we use for all web design and advertising going forwards!