Facebook deals is launching in 5 U.S. cities after which, it will expand in many cities and countries, including India and U.K. Find the complete details below.
Facebook Deals, the must anticipated offering that Facebook was preparing to launch for months has finally made it to the final cut and Facebook is going to launch Facebook Deals as “test” today itself, starting with 5 pilot cities across the U.S. namely Atlanta, Austin, Dallas, San Diego and San Francisco.
Although the launch of Facebook Deals is going to kick things off across just 5 cities but Facebook is expected to go beyond this and expand in whole U.S. pretty fast. Not just that, Facebook Deals will expand across the globe like a plague, if Facebook finds success in Facebook Deals in its pilot attempt starting today.
Unlike Facebook Messages, Facebook Deals has far better chances of gaining mass adopted by hundreds of millions of its active user base. Deals, especially group deals are ‘Social‘ by nature. While shopping, visiting a restaurant, heading for a workout or watching a movie etc., we have a tendency of finding some known friend(s) to accompany us. That helps in spending good time anywhere you go. Now, if that same activity starts rewarding you just because you bought a deal through your favorite Social Network, then voila!
Facebook’s biggest strength lies in its existing network of people and their high levels of activity there. Facebook Deals should be a hit, if not a craze.
How Facebook Deals Would This Affect Groupon, LivingSocial and others
Facebook Deals are surely going to give sleepless nights to Groupon and LivingSocial shareholders, mainly because no existing Daily Deals’ site commands even 10% of the reach that Facebook has, especially when you move outside U.S.
Although Facebook Places, another disruptive feature by Facebook, when launched, did pose a threat to Foursquare or Gowalla, but most people felt no interest in sharing their location (a.k.a check in) wherever they used to move and that lead to a pale response to Facebook Places by majority of users. Even Foursquare hasn’t seen a massive adoption as such, but it’s been steady at least.
But Daily Deals & group buying would be a different case altogether. The Social element is very much there by default in daily and group deals and there’s currently no better company than Facebook to handle things Social. And Facebook will initially focus more on group buying of concerts, events & movies, which will certainly be far more alluring for friend circles to hop on. Consequently, Groupon, LivingSocial and other companies in Daily deal business are sure to face a lot of heat from Facebook Deals, if not a massive disruption.
Impact of Facebook Deals In India
Facebook Deals are bound to expand outside U.S. and that should not take very long as Groupon clones have been spreading their tentacles really fast in several countries outside U.S.. India, a country of 1.2 billion people with fast emerging Internet user base has been a hot target for many Group buying gaints and Groupon has already acquired one of India’s group buying startup SoSasta.com but with time, a long list of Groupon clones have already started operating in full swing, many of which have attracted massive funding from renowned investment companies such as SnapDeal among few others.
Facebook Deals in India are just a matter of time so existing Daily Deal sites in Indian markets such as Snapdeal, MyDala, SoSasta, Dealivore, Koovs among others will be very uncomfortable with Facebook’s invasion in their turf.
When to Expect Facebook Deals in India
It would take some time, probably a couple of weeks at least, to let Facebook test the ground with 5 pilot cities and then, it should not take more than a couple of months to launch Facebook Deals at massive scale. Facebook Deals in India might take some more time, 3-4 months at least, as launching with a big range of local advertisers is what Facebook would be looking to achieve, before making anything official for Indians.
With Facebook entering new business avenues and crushing tiny players, they’re truly following Google‘s footsteps which endorses “Acquire or Replicate & Demolish”.