Meta will remove the tool that links digital advertising and offline sales

Meta has decided to stop supporting O2O tools. Thanks to them, companies that promoted on Facebook or Instagram could track traffic in their offline shops and thus evaluate the effectiveness of digital advertising and its impact on sales, Adweek reported. 

The suite of tools included Store Visits Optimisation and Reporting. It used aggregated data from geolocation services and used it to make predictions without insight into individual visitors and retail outlets. Despite a certain margin of error, the tool was unique for Meta, as it made it possible to link the costs of promotion on social networks with sales in physical shops.

The company explained to the publication that the product was tested and proved to be unpopular with partners and did not bring good results. GroupM said that the corporation's measures point to the confusion in the social media advertising segment and the lack of a unified solution. 

O2O-tools can be switched off from April 1, and completely the programme in Meta intends to wind down in May. As an alternative, the company suggested using services that increase brand recognition.