It is clear that connected customers are fundamentally transforming retail, interacting with brands through many touchpoints including web, mobile, online marketplaces, stores, ads, connected devices, and of course social media.

Customers increasingly use these touchpoints not just to collect information, but to actually buy products, which means that the shopping perspective has shifted almost entirely to consumers who shop – wherever they are – as part of the experience they are already having. They want each interaction to be great, and for all interactions to be coordinated into a single, unified experience. How can brands ensure that their customers, or or potential customers, are seeing the most relevant, in-the-moment product ads in their Facebook or Instagram feed?

Today at the NRF Retail Big Show, Salesforce announced the integration of Commerce Cloud with Facebook Dynamic Product Ads. Now, brands can leverage Commerce Cloud and Facebook in new ways to deliver relevant product information, and to drive conversion.

Facebook Dynamic Ads present relevant content to people based on the products they have browsed on a brand’s website. Dynamic ads reach people on any device, regardless of their original touchpoint with the brand. When a user clicks an ad, they are directed to the retailer’s website for the transaction. The retailer still owns the transactional relationship with the consumer.

With Dynamic Ads, Commerce Cloud customers can extend their brand and products to an enormous – Facebook has over 1.1 billion daily active users – audience, drive shoppers back to their site and ultimately increase conversion and sales. Commerce Cloud is the only enterprise cloud commerce platform that enables brands to extend commerce to multiple channels, all united by a central (and centrally-managed) commerce platform.

Commerce Cloud’s direct integration with Facebook and Instagram connects your product catalog to these platforms and places the Facebook activity tracking pixel on your site. Direct integration with Facebook makes enablement fast and simple, versus having to spend money and time on custom development.

For brands, the beauty of this is that they are able to leverage Commerce Cloud’s integration with Facebook to easily promote products and manage ads through the same control panel they use to manage their site. This is a key tenet of a unified commerce platform – managing all commerce channels from one platform.

The concept of shopping from any Internet-connected device, platform or application (distributed commerce) will have a profound impact on retail. It is upending typical buying patterns, as consumers no longer follow a linear path but meander between touchpoints, as in the infographic below. However, it also presents significant upside for leading retailers and brands who can quickly and dynamically implement these capabilities.

Commerce Cloud’s implementation of Facebook Dynamic Ads is currently in beta and will be generally available in the first calendar quarter of 2017 to Commerce Cloud customers. Please contact your Commerce Cloud customer success manager if you are interested in setting up Facebook Dynamic Ads. Or stop by our NRF booth to learn more: you can find Salesforce in Booth 3431, where you can learn about all the ways we are delivering a unified commerce experience to enable you to connect with your customers in a whole new way. Talk to our experts, get a demo, learn what we’ve got in store for 2017, and much more.