Have You Heard of Facebook's "Buy With Friends"?
Deb Liu, the Head of Product Commerce Marketing at Facebook announced the intention to launch a test version of a new application called Buy With Friends. The idea behind Buy With Friends is to offer users the chance to share their virtual purchases with friends via their news feed. This also gives those who choose to buy next an opportunity to buy at a discount. For the time being this application will be restricted to virtual products and will use only Facebook credits -- a virtual currency used only on Facebook.
Massive Potential of Group Buying Business Model
The mere mention of this application should send shivers down the spines of those at the helm of Groupon.com which is the leader in group-buying on the Internet. LivingSocial.com, BuyWithMe.com and SocialBuy.com are a few of the other major players. The industry has grown into a multi-billion dollar market partly because of the popularity of sharing and the social nature of many of the top sites.
The advantage of using a collective buying website is quite obviously the access to deals and savings, but they also offer users the convenience of shopping online.
Although the developers at Facebook have not announced any intention to turn the Buy With Friends application into a method for purchasing real goods and services with real money, it is plain to see the potential for expansion into this market. As long as the technology proves it is capable of supporting purchases and handling the financial aspect of transactions there will be nothing to prevent Facebook from moving into this arena as well.
If Facebook does decide to exploit the group-buying business model there will be a number of advantages for Facebook users.
Business Owners Can Leverage Facebook Presence
Probably the largest advantage of using the Facebook platform to introduce group-buying would be the immense leverage this offers to business owners. Facebook Fan Pages will become much more than simple marketing tools; they will be profit centers. A business would be able to offer group discounts and deals to a bunch of fans that may or may not be acquainted with each other in the real world.
Users Can Get Access to Various Deals
As a Facebook user you can also access tons of incredible deals online all from your social networking platform.
Easy to Share Information With Friends
Facebook would have to ask for permission to share your information with others, but as long as you agree to the terms and conditions you can expose your purchases to those on your friend list and give them access to the deals you scored for yourself.
This is certainly something to watch for in the near future as it could change the way you interact on Facebook, whether you are a business owner or individual user.
Natalia Jones - Natalia Jones is a full time freelance writer. She has an Advanced Diploma in Financial Management (ACCA) and she has previously worked in ...
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