Rumour has it that Facebook is looking to unveil a new Want button to compete with Pinterest and their incredible ability to drive retail sales.

The Want button would allow Facebook users to create interactive wish-lists of the products their hearts desire and share them with their friends. It would also allow marketers to gather huge amounts of information on Facebook users' interests and allow retailers to integrate easily with Facebook without having to create their own apps.

Our friends at our Engine sister-agency Deep Focus have some insight into the implications of all of this. Ken Kraemer says:

So what impact could a “Want” button have? Well, we can’t be sure. But this opens up a whole slew of possibilities and questions: Will Facebook become an eCommerce driver? Will “f-commerce” finally drive purchase at scale without expensive app builds? What does it mean for sites that have registries and wishlists? (We’re looking your way, Amazon.) And, the question du jour: can you tie social engagement and awareness to ROI?

But a few things are clear. Retailers that to date have not recognized the importance of social retailing will need to make open graph integration and the new “Want” button part of their ecommerce operations; if the success stories of the Fabs and Svpplys of the world haven’t been enough to create social shopping features, the isolation etailers will feel without the “Want” button will be.

Also, the “Want button can put a ton of pressure on the still nascent Pinterest. Given a choice between “Wanting” something on Facebook and “Pinning” something to your under-trafficked pinboard, we think people will go with the Want. But that depends largely on Facebook’s handling of how wants aggregate. A key joy of Pinterest is the highly visual interface that allows a user to browse tons of products (and stuff) quickly. By Contrast, Facebook’s actions – like “Likes” – have traditionally been fleeting – once a like hits news feeds, it is more or less gone (or appears to be). To effectively take on Pinterest as a retail driver, the Facebook will need to develop an aggregation interface akin to Pinterst’s pinboards.

Either way, we’re interested to see where this new feature can take Facebook.

Check back for more information on the phantom Want button as it become available.