Facebook has launched Collection, a new shopping ad format that is designed to enhance buyers’ shopping experiences on mobile devices. According to the blog post by the social media giant, Collection ad format allows marketers to feature a primary video or image on top of the ad with relevant product images below it. It is designed in a way to help brands showcase products in a visually engaging way and increase the likelihood of discovery and purchase of their products.
A collection is now available to all advertisers globally. The new feature is already being used by Adidas and Tommy Hilfiger to drive sales with compelling videos and product images. According to a research cited within the Facebook blog post, 45% of all the shopping journeys include a mobile action but there are high chances of drop-offs and friction due to the long loading times on the websites.
Within this ad format launched by Facebook, a click on the ad would lead a person to a shopping experience within Facebook showcasing up to 50 products at a time. Whereas a click on the product would direct the interested users to either a product detail page on a business’ website or mobile app to purchase.
Facebook also introduced a new click metric which would be measuring outbound links specifically measuring a number of clicks leading people off Facebook. Marketers would be able to get better insights on how people respond to the ads with a breakdown in ads reporting for ‘link clicks’ showing specific destinations such as website, app store, marketplace, phone call, message and more.
Olivia Roberts – Head of Retail (Middle East) says:
“What I love about the E-commerce world is, it’s constantly evolving with new platforms and way to shop all the time. Last year we saw Instagram add a new shopping feature to their platform and now it’s great to see Facebook following suit. Here in the Middle East, we are also seeing lots of new ways to shop. The Retail market here has been totally dominated by malls for many years and we are now seeing the wave of online shopping or new e-commerce business with a link to social media such as Boutique who has taken the market via storm with its link with Arabic celebrities and their chosen health & beauty products and accessories. Another example of a USP and innovator is that of Ounces who Al Tayer group has brought to market recently and they can incredibly deliver product to your door in Dubai within 2 hours. We will look forward to many more launches in the E-commerce sector soon with the launch of the Amazon of the Middle East, Noon.com which is coming in a matter of weeks. It’s an interesting space for us all to keep up to speed with.”
