Meta aims to leverage AI’s ability to inform and potentially influence shoppers to increase sales on its social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram.
At this week’s Shoptalk 2026 conference, the tech giant announced it would begin testing a new experience that would allow consumers to see more product information and an overview of user reviews after clicking an ad or visiting a website from Facebook or Instagram.
This feature is similar to Amazon’s use of generative AI to power product reviews, introduced in 2023. Rather than having to wade through hundreds of reviews to figure out what users are saying about a particular product, Amazon uses AI to summarize reviews into short paragraphs that appear on the product page.
Meta plans to utilize AI as well. The new pop-up experience allows AI capabilities to aggregate what people are saying about a particular product. This may include a brief introduction followed by important bullet points.
However, in Meta’s app, this feature also provides other general information, such as details about the brand itself, recommended products, potential discounts and sales, and buttons to add items to the user’s cart on individual product pages.
This is followed by an updated checkout flow built in partnership with payment providers Stripe and PayPal, allowing consumers to complete their purchases with just a tap. Meta says it is already working on other integrations with Ayden and Shopify that will be rolled out in the future.
Advertisers can control which checkout partners are used, so when a consumer taps the “Buy Now” button, the user can complete the purchase and fulfill the order without leaving Meta’s app.
The checkout changes come along with other updates to Meta’s product discovery tools and features.
This includes updates for creators that expand the range of affiliate partners they can work with on Facebook as competition from TikTok intensifies. Added affiliates include Amazon, eBay, and Temu in the US, Mercado Libre in Latin America, and Shopee in Asia.
Later this year on Instagram, Meta will also test affiliates such as Amazon (US) and Shopee (Asia). Partners choose the products they want featured and set the sales commission rate that creators receive when someone purchases through their account.
In addition, Instagram Reels creators now have access to product catalogs from companies in 22 countries to help them find products to showcase in their videos.
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