Facebook strengthens its mobile commerce game

Alongside connecting with people, Facebook is now the socializing hub for brands. In fact, a survey suggested that nearly half users come to Facebook to actively look for products, with a majority of them discovering new products in News Feed, Pages, and Groups.

With the drastic mobile shift, Facebook and other apps are looking to create a more seamless mobile shopping experience. While some efforts have taken off and seeing the desired results, some actions are still in the testing phase.

Tested and proven methods

Retailers are seeing strong results when using carousel format to bring their creative to life in dynamic product ads. With dynamic product ads, marketers can upload their product catalog and let Facebook automatically deliver the most relevant products to people. The carousel format paves the way for easy browsing and discovery of multiple products to choose from.

According to Matt Idema, VP of Monetization Product Marketing, "People are increasingly discovering products on mobile and Facebook, yet the shopping experience could be better. What we’re doing – with proven products like carousel ads and new products we're testing – is making it easier for people to discover products on mobile and businesses to drive sales."

Early phases of Testing

Canvas: A new native way to browse from ads. When people click on products from ads in their News Feed, the mobile websites they’re directed to often take a while to load and aren’t optimized, increasing the chance that people will drop off.

The new ad experience - Canvas, will allow for a fast-loading, full-screen experience where they can browse through a variety of products, before going to the retailer's website to purchase. It's being tested on a number of businesses since June.

“Buy” call-to-action button

Making purchases easier on mobile. People on desktop or mobile can click the “Buy” button in ads in News Feed to purchase a product directly from a business, without leaving Facebook. This feature is being tested on ads to give marketers a more seamless way to drive sales with people interested in their products.

Pages as a retailer’s mobile solution

Shop section. Facebook was looking at adding more ways for Page owners to showcase their products to people, which includes even a shop section. Businesses can choose to have this section link off to their own retail websites, or they can test a way for people to buy directly on their Pages.

Single place for product discovery and distribution 

New shopping feature in Favorites. Facebook has also seen people discovering new products across multiple areas on Facebook - News Feed, Pages, and Groups. In the coming weeks, the social networking site will begin testing a single place for people to discover more easily, share and purchase products.

Across each of these formats – from proven ad products such as carousel and dynamic products ads to new tests. Facebook’s goal is to make it easier for people to discover relevant products on mobile while also driving results for businesses.