• by Ben Frederick  @mp_benfred, October 12, 2015

After dipping its toes in the mCommerce waters for the past several years, Facebook is ready to jump into the deep end and has begun testing a new way for users to browse products called Canvas.

Canvas is a native ad browser within Facebook that allows users to peruse whole catalogs of products before going to the retailer’s web site to purchase. The new feature allows businesses to transition more smoothly to the growing mobile commerce space by allowing consumers to do research and discovery on Facebook’s platform before ultimately converting on the retailer’s site.

One can imagine that the addition of a “buy” button will soon follow after this testing phase.

Ad content is expected to load faster and be more interactive because it is native to Facebook.

The basic idea behind Canvas is similar to the Instant Article feature Facebook has for publishers, except with ads instead of editorial content.

According to a Facebook blog post, 1 billion people visit Pages every month to learn more about businesses. An in-house survey also suggested that nearly half of people come to Facebook to actively look for new products.

Based on this data, Facebook has also incorporated a new Shopping section under the Favorites category. The space allows users to browse products being offered on Facebook all in one place.

The blog post also outlined the various forays Facebook has made into eCommerce the past year, including carousel format for ads, which showcase multiple product images and links in one ad.

Facebook reports that carousel link ads drive 30% to 50% lower cost-per-conversion for advertisers. Video ads have also been incorporated into carousel ads. The format has also been made available to Instagram ads.