Facebook Making It Easier For Local Merchants To Advertise Offline Offerings

Aiming to get a bigger piece of the offline advertising pie, Facebook announced on Tuesday (Sept. 20) the launch of dynamic ads for retail.

According to a blog post from Facebook, dynamic ads introduces new ways for advertisers to run smarter campaigns that drive users into stores. Facebook said, until now, it wasn’t feasible for retailers to customize creative ads for every store location based on the local products available, pricing and/or promotions, but with dynamic ads for retail, they can showcase products available in the store that is closest to the person seeing the ad.

“For example, if a fashion retailer wishes to advertise a nationwide sales event happening at every store, dynamic ads for retail will only showcase products that are in-stock at a nearby store and display the price found at that location. As the ads are linked to the local product catalog, if a product sells out in one store, the campaign automatically adjusts so that people in that region will no longer see it advertised. Product selection for each ad can be optimized based on people’s online and mobile shopping behavior,” Facebook wrote.

Facebook went on to say that dynamic ads for retail give customers the information they need to act, including local availability, product summaries, different actions — such as contacting the nearest store, buying online or saving the product for the future — and similar products, showing customers similar products available at the nearest store. Facebook said it is currently testing the service with advertisers, including Abercrombie & Fitch, Argos, Macy’s, Pottery Barn and Target. The objective will become more widely available to eligible clients in the coming weeks, it went on to note.

The move by Facebook comes on the heels of a June announcement in which the social media network operator announced new capabilities for marketers to drive foot traffic to their physical store fronts and to determine the impact of their mobile campaigns on store visits and sales.