Facebook Launching Shopping Tab For Mobile App

Facebook might just give major online shopping platforms a run for their money.

Social Networking giant Facebook announced Monday its intent on venturing into ecommerce. In a recent release on their company blog, Facebook revealed that it will be adding an "in-feed" buy button, carousel product ads, as well as new shopping sections on its mobile page, according to a report by Tech Crunch. "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," says Facebook's head of product marketing for commerce Emma Rodgers, as per The Washington Post.

Wired reports that that the 1.5 billion-member social networking site is taking the first necessary steps in developing its online retail arm. It has, for instance, rolled out the "buy" buttons allowing users to purchase without being redirected outside the app. In addition to these ecommerce developments, the company is also reported to be "beefing up" its "immersive ads" which it started testing last September, as per Tech Crunch. The upgrade on "immersive ads" will benefit merchants as they can "host" product catalogs on the same site without potential buyers being redirected to a mobile browser. To harness immersive ads further, Facebook is developing "Canvas" which will allow users to browse a spectrum of products in a "fast-loading, full-screen experience."

"Shop" sections on businesses' Facebook Pages have also been at the experimentation stage. Tech Crunch notes that the "Shopping Feed" on Facebook's mobile version could be accessed from the "Favorites" section of the navigation menu. By clicking the "Shopping" option, users will be presented with a feed of numerous brands that businesses have chosen to feature. The products that will be appearing are reported to be "personalized" and calibrated based on your Facebook connections, likes and interests.

"On Facebook we've seen that people are coming to our platform not only to connect with friends and family but also with products and brands," the company said in a blog post as quoted by Wired. "Nearly half of people" is reported to refer to and visit Facebook to search for products.

"From Facebook's perspective, they're addressing a pain point for retailers," notes Catherine Boyle, an eMarketer analyst as per Wired. "They will attract serious ad dollars with this offering."

The tech company's new ad experience aims to encourage and help many businesses to make use of mobile. Moreover, Rodgers remarks that Facebook is "giving these marketers a post-click creative space to achieve their business objectives." However, like many of the new upgrades the company is and will be officially launching for the members' enjoyment, the feature is currently only available to a limited number of people.