Facebook aims to improve shopping experience

People are increasingly using smartphone apps to access Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and even for shopping. Smartphones has completely transformed shopping experience for consumers with apps.

Facebook acknowledges this fact and notes that often mobile shopping experience is difficult to navigate as sometimes pages take time to load or too many steps makes potential buyers to drop out without completing the purchase.

As a solution to these problems and to step further into e-commerce, Facebook on Monday announced that it is testing new ad features that will enable users to shop directly through its app.

The social media giant talks about “Canvas”, a new ad experience to drive any advertising objective - from brand building to driving sales, which it has been testing since it was first unveiled in June. It said that over the coming weeks, it will start testing a “new” experience on Canvas:

“After clicking on an ad, people will see a fast-loading, full-screen experience where they can browse through a variety of products, before going to the retailer’s website to purchase... 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.”

Next, Facebook said that it is adding more ways for Page owners to showcase their products to people, including a recently announced Shop section:

“Businesses can choose to have this section link to their own retail websites, or they can test a way for people to buy directly on their Pages.”

Thirdly, it announced a new shopping feature in Favorites. Without revealing much about this new feature, it just said that in the coming weeks it will begin testing a “single” place for people to more easily discover, share and purchase products. 

"We're looking to give people an easier way to find products that will be interesting to them on mobile, make shopping easier and help businesses drive sales," said Emma Rodgers, Facebook's head of product marketing for commerce, Reuters reported.