Zuck: There’s An Opportunity To Bring More Commerce To Facebook; Gifts Is The First Step

Leena Rao

Leena Rao is currently a Senior Editor for TechCrunch. She recently finished graduate school at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University, where she studied business journalism and videography. From 2004 to 2007, she helped lead Congresswoman Carloyn Maloney’s community outreach and relations efforts in New York City. She graduated from Columbia University in 2003, where she was... → Learn More

Tuesday, October 23rd, 2012
facebook-gifts-introducing

On Facebook’s earnings call today, CEO and founder Mark Zuckerberg talked mobile, gaming and more. He touched upon Gifts, the company’s big move into commerce.

Gifts incorporates user data into suggestions for gifts to buy for friends on the network. Facebook earns a percentage of sales when you use it to buy friends physical products or digital gift cards for their birthdays, weddings, or other special occasions. Facebook launched Gifts after acquiring Karma in May.

Zuck said on the call, “We’re also excited about the Gifts launch. We’re in the early days of the launch but there is an opportunity to add more commerce to Facebook over time.”

As we’ve written in the past, Gifts has a lot of potential for revenue for Facebook, and the markets have responded. Clearly, Facebook sees more potential in new commerce tie-ins with the network, so Gifts may be only the beginning. Also, Facebook is holding a press event for Gifts in New York next week, so perhaps we’ll here more soon.

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