EBay and TechStyle are among the first e-commerce companies to use the digital marketing vendor Smartly.io's new tool.

Digital marketing vendor Smartly.io this week rolled out a new tool, called Video Templates, that aims to enable e-commerce companies to automatically create Facebook video ads using the image and video assets in its product catalog. EBay Inc. and TechStyle Fashion Group, No. 75 in the Internet Retailer 2017 Top 500, are among the first e-commerce companies to use the tool.

The tool pulls still images and video assets from a retailer’s product catalog that the retailer shares with Smartly.io and integrates those elements into a template. Retailers can modify or customize the template using the tool’s video editor. Retailers then can use Facebook’s targeting options to aim the ads at consumers.

For instance, eBay ran an Instagram Stories ad campaign using a Smartly.io video template that combined product images, names and prices into videos that updated automatically with deals and product availability. The tool allowed the online marketplace to use video ads to promote gift offers at a vast scale, says Sadie Daryan, eBay’s global senior manager, channel incubation. “Keeping so many video ads up to date with products and prices wouldn’t be possible without a creative automation solution,” she says.

Because the tool lets retailers quickly create video ads, they can use the tool to test how consumers respond to elements within the ads, such as prices or multiple products within one video, says Juhana Nurmio, Smartly.io’s product manager. The tool’s video editor enables advertisers to run A/B tests to determine which elements shoppers respond to. They then can tweak their video templates based on shoppers’ actions. “By testing and iterating on their ads, retailers can generate better results,” he says.

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