Can Facebook become the leading shopping app?
In recent weeks Facebook announced a range of new ways to power purchase through the platform that represent an ambitious development in the ability to sell through social.
First it unveiled Canvas, a fully customised webpage that opens within the mobile app to allow retailers to showcase a number of products to browse, and now it has unveiled that it is testing a dedicated Shopping Feed. This will be a space where users can browse a newsfeed dedicated solely to products on sale from the brands they follow/those that target them through advertising.
These updates are the latest in a long history of F-Commerce developments, trying to drive sales within Facebook, differing from ads which tend to drive away from the platform. The changes represent an opportunity to go far beyond the original and failed iterations of shopping within Facebook’s shoppable tabs, most of which retailers opened and then closed within the year of launch. In the early years we made the mistake of thinking that if we built it (the shopping experience within Facebook) they would come, and shop… they didn’t!
This time it’s different and the Shopping Tab in particular marks a shift into the area of high intent marketing (traditionally where products are searched for), encouraging active search for only shoppable items within the platform. It will be interesting to see how the platform sells this alongside its complementary wider suite of ad formats to drive engagement up the funnel.
The fact that Canvas will only be discoverable through ads creates the right conditions for purchase by leveraging the huge amount of data and targeting options currently available. By optimising ads only towards those more likely to browse and shop, the success of Canvas is likely to be determined by how much retailers are willing to invest in testing their performance on their customers on the platform.
Mobile is at the heart of both of these updates: closing the ‘gap’ between clicking on an ad and reaching a client’s mobile site or app, with the end game of ultimately driving more sales within Facebook.
A survey quoted by Facebook suggested that 50 per cent of users come to the social network looking for products, which demonstrates how changes in the algorithm and the way content is surfaced to users encourages shopping behaviour on Facebook in recent years. Marketers should consider how to optimise the user journey and social mind set from ‘browse and discovery’ to ‘active purchase’.
The main watch out here is that we shouldn’t assume that these new features negate the need for good content creation and efforts to engage your audience. As with any channel, providing content to warm new customers and committing to your brand and service remain important parts of the funnel that will need to coexist with your DR strategy to build strong and lasting relationships with your customers.
Elisah VanVriesland is social account director at Manning Gottlieb OMD