Facebook is currently testing a new feature they’re calling Collections. At the time of writing, only a handful of large retailers (Pottery Barn, Victoria’s Secret, Neiman Marcus, etc.) have access to this functionality, but the hope is that it will eventually become available to all brand-based Facebook fan pages. The concept is that companies will be able to create a collection which consists of images of products. They will function much the same way that photo albums currently behave. Clicking on an image of an item inside a collection will bring up a box with a zoomed version of the image clicked. Here, users have the standard options of commenting or liking the image. What makes Collections all the more interesting are the new eCommerce-focused options offered to users. This popup box will showcase thumbnails of other items in the same collection. There will also be an area dedicated to the description of the item. Users will have the option to “want” the product which places it on a wishlist of sorts that their friends on Facebook will see in their timeline. Users will also be able to click a link to buy the item outright. The link takes the user to the main eCommerce site where the item could be added to a user’s basket for checkout.
One thing to note: Collections is still very much in the testing phase. Facebook is still trying to see how successful this can actually become. Browsing over to Neiman Marcus’ Facebook page, you can see Collections in action. At the time of writing, a quick search for “Collections” reveals that Neiman Marcus has created two sets of Collections: “Leather Leg” and “Borrowed From The Boys.” The older of the two Collections was created on October 8th and has garnered a mere 23 likes. This comes from a fan page that has nearly 600,000 likes, and 15,000 current Facebook conversations. For a collection to only turn out 23 likes in 4 days could be a telltale sign that Facebook Collections might not grow up to become the eCommerce darling it dreams to be.
In any case, the opportunity to create such a direct channel from-Facebook-to-checkout is very exciting. There is no word yet on when Collections will become available to eCommerce retailers everywhere, but we’ll let you know when it does.
More on Facebook Collections:
https://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57528097-93/facebook-amps-up-commerce-with-collections
https://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2012/10/10/facebooks-gifts-and-collections-could-spur-e-commerce-growth
https://www.techradar.com/us/news/internet/web/facebook-collections-launches-to-compete-with-pinterest-1103224
