Facebook Inc. appears determined to figure out e-commerce.

The social network has launched a test that lets a select number of retailers on Shopify’s e-commerce platform build e-commerce storefronts within their pages, says a Facebook spokesman.

A retailer can choose whether Buy buttons within its page storefronts lead shoppers back to its site or if the entire transaction occurs on Facebook.

The shops are more prominent on mobile devices than they are on desktops. While the shops appear underneath a retailer’s pages toolbar and the about section on mobile devices, they’re in a tab on desktop devices.

The test is a “logical move for Facebook,” says Paul Bolt, vice president, practice areas, at web hosting provider Rackspace. “If you look at the volume and quality of data that Facebook holds on its users and the data its users volunteer, it’s staggering. The company is in a unique position to be able to turn around and offer brands access to target the right customers.”

The pages initiative is distinct from Facebook’s other e-commerce test that lets some Shopify merchants place Buy buttons on ads and posts that appear in the news feed.

Facebook is still in the early testing phase and for now it isn’t taking a cut of the revenue generated from sales that result from shoppers clicking Buy buttons, the spokesman says.

This isn’t the first time storefronts have appeared on Facebook. Throughout 2010 and 2011 a number of retailers did so, including multichannel department store chain J.C. Penney Co. Inc. and HauteLook, and nearly all failed to deliver enough sales to make the efforts worthwhile. However, Facebook believes this time around is different because consumers’ shift to mobile devices has created an opportunity to solve the mobile commerce conversion problem. That is, mobile shoppers convert at one-third the rate of desktop and tablet shoppers. Given that mobile consumers spend more than one-fifth of their time on Facebook, the social network says it wants to help retailers reach consumers where they’re already looking.

Facebook is far from the only platform rolling out a Buy button. Nearly every social network, including Pinterest, Twitter and Instagram, have introduced or tested Buy buttons or related initiatives over the past year. And Google earlier this week launched Purchases on Google, which lets consumers on smartphones click a Buy button to buy products directly on mobile Product Listing Ads. PLAs are the listings that show a product’s image, price and the retailer selling it prominently in Google search results for product-related searches.

 

 

 

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