ZDNet: Facebook Messenger adds buy button, native payments

Facebook announced a new set of tools for businesses to interact with customers more directly on the Messenger platform. According to a recent ZDNet article, the Messenger platform will now have a “buy” button that enable native payments.

Earlier this year Facebook introduced bots to Messenger so that businesses could provide automated customer support. Previously, if a customer wanted to buy something from the business when messaging with them, they would then have to leave the platform and provide shipping and payment information that may already be available from their profile.

Currently in beta, the new functionality will allow customers to purchase directly on the platform, while businesses can accept payments with Stripe or Paypal. According to a blog post from Facebook, "Messages with payments utilize industry-leading controls and financial information is protected with bank-level encryption."

To continue driving commerce to Facebook, the social network will soon be rolling out ads that will send users to bots on Messenger. “Send Message” will be a call-to-action that advertisers can apply in their ads.