Apparently drawing inspiration from Pinterest, Facebook is trialing a new "Want" button that would allow its users to add products to a virtual wish list. An accompanying "Buy" link creates an f-commerce vehicle.
According to an email from Facebook sent to PC Magazine, the social networking site is currently engaging in a "small test in which a few select businesses will be able to share information about their products through a feature called Collections."
The Collections feature lets users on Facebook engage with items by "liking," "collecting" or "wanting" them. Hitting the "want" button on an item prompts a "Why do you want this?" query bubble. Once the response is provided, a picture of the desired product along with the "Want" message become visible on the Timelines of their friends. Friends can then hit their own "want" button, or even make a purchase through a buy link that directs users to the retailer's transactional site.
"People will be able to engage with these collections and share things they are interested in with their friends. People can click through and buy these items off of Facebook," Facebook said in a statement released to Reuters.
The seven retailers in the test include Pottery Barn, Wayfair, Victoria's Secret, Michael Kors, Neiman Marcus, Smith Optics and Fab.com, the company said.
A spokeswoman told Reuters that during the test Facebook isn't receiving any fee for referring users to e-commerce sites. Nonetheless, with Facebook struggling to make money through advertising, some said the Pinterest-like tool may provide a path to e-commerce.
Robert W. Baird analyst Colin Sebastian told Reuters that in addition to potentially collecting a transaction fee, retailers might also pay Facebook to promote products featured on users' wish lists, similar to how Facebook's current ads work.
"Thinking about how large they are as a platform and how engaged people are, there are lots of levers they haven't pulled yet in terms of monetization," he said.
Writing for Mashable.com, Todd Wasserman called the feature "a fairly transparent hedge against Pinterest," which currently lacks a buy feature. A Facebook spokesperson indicated that the program does not employ Instagram, the photo-sharing social website Facebook acquired in early September. Mr. Wasserman added, "However, it's easy to see how in the future the features could be added to a brand's Instagram feed as well."