Facebook continues push to dominate mobile commerce
Importance: (For retailers using Facebook)
Recommended source: Facebook for business
Facebook has been releasing new products to help it secure a big chunk of the highly lucrative ecommerce market throughout this year. In February we reported on the release of their new dynamic product ads, which were promoted by Facebook’s speaker at this year’s eCommerce expo. Earlier this month they released local business page verification to help small business be found, whilst in September they announced that they would overhaul the way business pages look on mobile, adding ‘storefronts’ so firms could sell their products or showcase their services right from their Facebook pages. In August they even announced the novel new service ‘M’, a personal assistant that exists within the Facebook messenger App which will be able to recommend products and make purchases for users should they ask it to.
This latest announcement by Facebook showcases two impressive new features, which will be tested with a limited set of small businesses in the US: Canvas and a new Shopping feature in favourites
New shopping feature in favourites
This is big news from the world’s largest social network. Alongside sections like ‘Events’, ‘Groups’ and ‘Pages’ a new ‘Shopping’ section will appear in users favourites list.
Businesses that are using the ‘shop’ section on their pages’ will be eligible to have their products appear in the shopping feed. Facebook have been relatively light on details thus far, but this essentially looks like the release of a Newsfeed for shopping, where users can scroll through the products of all the brands they follow on Facebook. A great way to get your products seen by those who might not otherwise be reached without expensive advertising campaigns.
Canvas: stay in Facebook when you browse from ads
Facebook makes its revenue from adverts, and so it want people to stay on it’s platform whenever possible. Facebook has thus developed a way for people to stay in Facebook when they click on Ads, as they will be served a full screen shopping page where they can browse products and then finally go to the retailer’s site if they decide to purchase.
Facebook say they want to provide a way for users to seamlessly continue shopping. When clicking on an ad they are presented with further product details and options via ‘Canvas’, rather than being re-directed to an external site and having to wait for it to load. This will probably help advertisers because it will remove friction in the buyer’s journey, although they will eventually have to be re-directed to the retailer’s site to complete their purchase. Facebook may eventually be able to eliminate even this final step, as it is introducing its ‘Buy buttons’ to its ads so that products can be purchased without ever leaving Facebook.
Taken with the other announcements for Facebook over the past few months, you can see a clear drive by Facebook to become a dominant player in the e-commerce market, by facilitating purchases and offering ways for retailers to showcase their products.
from Smart Insights http://ift.tt/1Pgane8
via IFTTT
Nessun commento:
Posta un commento