Canvas – Facebook’s New Shopping System
Facebook is currently shifting itself into the e-commerce marketplace, it’s future intention undoubtedly to start selling products directly through it’s platform – however for the time being it is currently rolling out a system called Canvas.
This is a continual process which it has been working on for a while, working on building the Facebook platform into an actual shopping destination. So how do you get involved with the new features on Facebook? If you’re an online shop these recent updates might just be for you!
What did Facebook actually announce?
On Monday 12th October Facebook announced that it was expanding it’s Canvas programme – this was first mentioned back in June 2015 – however now the roll out has begun in earnest and the progression has started to gather momentum. Its original intention was to showcase interactive products, full-screen within the Facebook mobile apps. The plan being to allow users to browse products from an advertisers catalogue without leaving the Facebook app.
This included the addition of a “Shopping” section within the favourites list – which would filter out ads and pages advertising products for sale via the web.
The idea is to give users a one-step process from Facebook to browse and discover products on Facebook – this might not be shown on your app currently, it is being rolled out over the next few weeks. So where are these listings coming from? Well at the moment there are a select number of companies, based entirely in the US, who’s feeds are being tested with the new system. Currently only products form these companies can be seen on the showcase.
What is the new format like, and why?
The key element, according to Facebook is, speed. Canvas essentially allows products to be pulled through from the retailer’s website to be viewed within the Canvas function without leaving the Facebook app. The reason this is being done is because Facebook cites data suggesting that users often abandon retailer’s websites when the click on in-app links as they take too long to load and therefore the advertising impact becomes less impressive.
The intention of Canvas is to pull product listings through to give users a “full screen, interactive, in-app experience” for the purpose of viewing and buying products from the retailer’s website. No doubt the long-term intention is to charge retailers a fee for all “Facebook generated” sales.
So what is happening with the current shopping ads?
If you were thinking that Facebook already had product ads, you’d be right. Last year they introduced a carousel style format which showcased multiple products. More recently they even started allowing videos for product ads on the site which also rolled out on Instagram. There are also more dynamic product ads which show product feeds from advertiser’s sites, however all of these – on click – take the visitor through to the retailer’s website. It is this step that Facebook is looking to remove in order to, they say, reduce the abandoned visits due to slow website loading time.
What is going to happen to the Shop section pages and how does this newly introduced shopping section fit into it?
Facebook introduced shop section for pages last month as another attempt to make it easier for users to browse and buy directly through the platform. It also allows retailers with non-existent or poor mobile optimised websites to bridge this with a Facebook Shop already working perfectly for mobiles. Shop is Facebook’s second attempt at creating retailer’s microsites within the platform, the main drawback being that retailers need to know how to interact with these sections of the site and take the time to set them up and how to correctly engage with it to make it work for them.
The new shopping section is designed to give users an easily accessible destination within the app to find and search for products, view and buy them – all without leaving Facebook. The intention of course to keep them on Facebook and turn Facebook into more of a shopping centre destination. And of course, long-term to position Facebook to become an essential part of all e-commerce sites who wish to compete with their rivals.
When can you get your products on there?
Not yet! Facebook tends to roll these updates out over a period of months so you’ll just have to wait your turn. Currently, Canvas is under testing or BETA phase with a small number of US retailers. But there will definitely be a roll-out coming so just keep your eyes open and look out for the update that might let your business start taking advantage of it!
