Is Facebook Trying to Get into E-Commerce?

Is Facebook trying to get into e-commerce? Well, the question should really be: is Facebook trying to get into e-commerce again? After failing the first time, there are hints that the social media giant may give it another shot.

Facebook’s First Attempt at E-Commerce

In 2009 Facebook started to allow people to buy and sell their stuff on the website. In 2011, they made a huge leap by trying to get large corporations like J.C. Penney, GameStop, and Gap to sell their products on the site. This didn’t work out so well. Within a year all of the companies pulled their products from the website. As a matter of fact, it was so disastrous that analysts coined the term “F-Commerce” after Facebook’s first failed attempt.

Facebook is Perfect For E-Commerce

Despite the setbacks, there are hints that Facebook is going into e-commerce again. According to Adweek, the social media site already has the e-commerce essentials. For one thing, Facebook has a huge base of potential buyers (literally in the millions) which is an important foundation for any business. 

Not only does the social media site have buyers, but it also has many sellers as well. All that the buyers and sellers need now is a marketplace. Thankfully, Facebook has a large customer service infrastructure, so buyers and sellers can communicate with each other. The site is currently trying out Buy Buttons that show up in advertisements on the site. However, these Buy Buttons are currently only available on smartphones. Due to the small size of the screen, this makes buying more difficult.

Why is Facebook Trying out E-Commerce Again?

So if Facebook had all this potential to get into e-commerce and failed once, why would the company want to try again? It has to do with how the site functions as a social media platform. Facebook makes users feel as though they are hanging out. Users don’t feel like they’re being pressured to buy anything. With the Buy Button, they’re introducing a way to make mobile ads more efficient. This way, the social media site can charge more money for advertisements. Also, e-commerce is a large and rapidly growing industry. Since Facebook has the requirements needed for e-commerce, they have the potential to make even more money than they already do. There’s no reason not to give it another shot.