Facebook head of retail global vertical strategy Nicolas Franchet talks about Facebook’s developing role in retail

What role does Facebook play in retail?

We are seeing retailers embed us in their multichannel strategies. They’re building up their presence on Facebook where a lot of their customers are spending time. c.

We talk about ourselves as a platform in development.

What is the best way for retailers to use Facebook?

There’s no status quo - everybody’s experimenting. We talk a lot about people who are on Facebook on a daily basis now. The opportunity for retailers is really to reach their customers throughout the day, on this very personal service that Facebook is.

How important is a personalised experience?

We want this experience to be highly personalised - everybody’s Facebook is different from everyone else’s - it’s your friends and your family, and everything that matters to you.

Is use of the network growing?

750 million people use Facebook every day around the world, which is a 22% increase on last year, and 24 million people in the UK use it. The number of people using it is growing, but that’s not the only thing that we look at. We’re also looking at engagement - on mobile, people are on average using it 14 times a day. They’re snacking on content. So we’re getting a lot of people but also a lot of engagement and frequency.

How has Facebook evolved?

The conversation between retailers and consumers on the platform has massively evolved. We don’t do huge things all at once but lots of little changes. Retailers are using three to four key products that didn’t exist a year ago. We want to keep trying things.

Will Facebook shops ever work?

We are learning what makes sense to people. People don’t come to Facebook to purchase - they come to check in on their family and friends. Retailers are building an ecosystem around themselves and we are a big part of that.