Dive Brief:
- Austin, Texas-based Bigcommerce debuted a social media-specific tool for creating automated product ads.
- The new advertising solution, which was developed with the help of Boostable, is available for merchants to use on Facebook and Twitter, but Bigcommerce says it will likely extend that to other new media platforms later on.
- U.S.-based merchants can automate ad campaigns for their products within catalogs in the Bigcommerce Marketplace, which boasts about 95,000 online stores.
Dive Insight:
The e-commerce platform says one of the main concerns their merchants have is improving ROI, which it believes can be done through automated ad solutions. Bigcommerce Product Director Michael Burk told Marketing Dive that across the board, social media marketing and advertising was a top priority for its merchants, which span B2B and B2C.
"With global e-commerce spending expected to eclipse $2.5 trillion in 2015, social networks have become critical sales channels and sources of referral traffic for established and emerging brands, specifically small businesses," Bigcommerce said in a statement about the release.
The release also cited a recent NRF (National Retail Federation) study showing 25% of retailers indicated Facebook as their top acquisition channel and a Small Business Consumer Insights white paper that found 60% of consumers reported having made a purchasing decision about a small business because of Twitter.
Through the new ad solution, ads can quickly pull images and product descriptions from product pages, which advertisers can then edit before setting a monthly budget for campaigns. Bigcommerce said in the press release about the news it charges a 20% service fee for ads purchased through the platform.
Still, Burk noted that the new Product Ads platform is set up to be like "having an agency working for you for a fraction of the cost."
