Facebook's new retail push lets users hit 'buy'

Facebook this week quietly started testing another feature that could help turn the company into an online retail powerhouse.It is called Collections and will help retailers share their products on the social network  and for the first time allow users to click through and BUY products THROUGH Facebook.

The company is allowing seven retailers to share information about products through Collections, which users can then share with their friends. Facebook is testing three different options for users to take action when viewing the products like, collect, and want. Presumably the social media giant will go with whichever of these three draws the most traction.

The big difference here  Facebook is including a buy link for products within a collection, sending people to the sites to purchase products. Facebook isn't charging for this service yet  but presumably it plans to take a cut of all sales that originate on its platform. And the more people share products, the more they're likely to buy.

Facebook is starting the test with seven major retailers: William Sonoma's, Pottery Barn, Neiman Marcus, Limited Brand's, Victoria's Secret, Fab.com, Michael Kors, Smith Optics, and Wayfair.

With this latest move, Facebook is hoping to push into the next frontier of social shopping and capitalize on the power of people sharing products they like with friends. It only seems natural for the company to roll out this service in time for the holiday shopping season.