As promised by Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook has entered the e-commerce space, but instead of doing it Amazon-style, it has done it Wallapop-style. That is, for the moment, its Marketplace is a set of offers published by users themselves, using geolocation to show the products that are closest to the user, and without charging commission on the transactions.
In the US it has been running for 10 months, but in Spain it started in mid-August in the app and this week it appeared on the web. You can see the link in the menu on the left of the home page, under News and Messenger, or clicking here: Facebook Marketplace
Once in the Marketplace, products are displayed by category, price and geolocation. The search engine works quite well, and the button to sell is located in the most visible part of the page. So, nothing to criticize… everything is OK.
The offers are created by end users and also by companies that are taking advantage of the fact that the market is not yet oversaturated, in order to promote their products.
Facebook has not released figures on Marketplace usage, but it seems reasonable to predict a bright future for it given that e-commerce is booming. It was at the beginning of 2017 that Telefonica Facebook already published that during 2016 more than 501% of Spanish Internet users had made an online transaction during the last 12 months, so it is clear that Facebook Marketplace is coming at the best time. We will see how its competitors Wallapop, eBay and Vibbo (Anuntis) react... and it will also be interesting to observe how the business model evolves because being completely free is good to start and gain market share, but in the medium term you need income that at least covers the maintenance costs of the system, no matter how much of a Facebook you are.
To fully fulfil Zuckerberg's promises, we now have to see him launch his own payment system, similar to PayPal or Google Wallet. In 2014, he requested permission from the Bank of Ireland to start this service in Europe, and in January 2017, public which already had all the necessary permits to operate in Europe.
I will remain attentive…
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