PROCRASTINATORS (AND BUSINESSES) REJOICE!
Confession: I haven’t crossed a single item off my holiday gift list. With Christmas only two weeks away, the countdown is on to purchase and ship gifts to out-of-town friends before the 25th. Historically, this is about the time I start to panic, but thanks to the Facebook application eGift Social, Christmas has come early for us last-minute shoppers… and for once, I mean that in a good way.
Now with a few simple steps and a credit card (no Facebook currency needed) users can buy tangible gifts for their friends on Facebook, from retailers such as Sephora, Sears, Kmart and Coldstone Creamery. After the transaction, a Facebook wall post or email immediately gets delivered to the recipient with a link to a unique coupon code, which is used to redeem the gift in-store.
We’ve all been able to purchase online gift certificates for years now, but the benefit to shopping on Facebook will be the option to hand-select specific gifts, which offers a more personalized touch. Of course, gift cards will still be available. In fact, most of the retailers currently utilizing the application are only offering gift cards. However, as the popularity of Facebook gift-giving grows, so will the variety of products available for purchase.
There is substantial potential for the future of Facebook gift-giving, particularly as Facebook Places rises in popularity. It allows users to purchase gifts for friends when they might not otherwise do so. For instance, I might not normally go out of my way to purchase and ship a birthday gift to an old acquaintance that’s moved out of the area. However, if I see that person has checked into Joe’s Crab Shack while out celebrating his birthday, I’d be more than happy to purchase a $10 “Southern Spiked Tea” for him to immediately enjoy.
And of course these transactions are not only valuable for consumers. Facebook gift-giving offers a way for businesses to monetize their social media presence and – even better – a way to track that monetization. The transactions will also help garner more attention for brands and their online markets since after a gift is purchased, a post to the online market gets published to both the recipient’s wall as well as the gift-giver’s. This could potentially result in a large volume of qualified impressions, since my friends will most likely be more inclined to purchase gifts on Facebook after they see me do it. Additionally, these transactions are designed to increase actual foot traffic, as most of the coupon codes have to be redeemed in store.
What do you think – will you be sending gifts through Facebook this holiday season?
