Facebook Continues To Drive Video Commerce

Facebook has been pushing video hard lately with the release of the live video, video ad breaks and now Facebook wants to use video to drive direct retail sales with video. Today the site is launching a new ad format called Collection. Collections are built on a "primary video" or image that, when clicked on, takes viewers to an immersive, fast-loading page that can include up to 50 products.

By tapping on a specific product, users are redirected to the product page on a retailer's own website or app where they can complete their purchase. From a blog post released by Facebook, it seems collections will be a mobile-centric video ad format however we can't see why this would not work on desktop as brands continuously strive to stand out in newsfeeds.

Soon to be available on a newsfeed near you, you may come across the following. A video that sits on the top half of the ad unit with four recommended products below. Facebook will give retailers the option of either selecting the products they want to feature manually or Facebook pulls popular products from a retailer’s site to populate the collection below the video. Once someone clicks through on a promo from the newsfeed, they are taken to a fast-loading landing page (similar to Facebook’s website-like Canvas ads) where people can browse through up to 50 products. From there, people can buy sponsored items by clicking on specific products to visit the retailer’s mobile site or app.Image from giphy

According to Facebook, Adidas, Lowe’s, Tommy Hilfiger, Sport Chek and Michael Kors are a handful of retailers that have tested Collection. During the holidays, Sport Chek ran a campaign using GIFs that the sporting goods retailer claims doubled conversions and increased online sales by 28 percent.

Adidas’ campaign pitched a hoodie and similar products like shoes and a bag, resulting in a 1.8X decrease in cost-per-conversion, according to the brand. “This new ad format has everything we need to introduce a new product and drive sales,” explained Rebecca Watts, Adidas’ performance marketing senior specialist in a statement. “Collection has outstanding cross-selling capabilities, and we’ll certainly explore this new format again to inspire and increase sales.”