Electric Dealer or Facebook next straw will rival ebay

Lead: The foreign media today said that although Facebook is about to launch a 5 billion dollar IPO, the company will also face intense pressure to find a source of potential. E-commerce is likely to be a lifeline for Facebook, and some startups have already tasted the sweetness. Even the industry expects Facebook's e-commerce scale to rival Amazon and ebay in the future.

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Facebook, the world's biggest social networking site, is about to launch a 5 billion-dollar IPO, but it will also face pressure from Wall Street to reduce its reliance on advertising by tapping into new sources of revenue. Currently, advertising revenue accounts for 85% of Facebook's 2011 total revenue.

Some entrepreneurs and investors believe that E-commerce may be a new way for Facebook, such as BeachMint, Yardsellr, Oodle and fab.com, which have introduced innovative measures to lure Facebook users into shopping rather than just connecting with friends.

These startups are funded by well-known venture capital companies or investors, such as Goldman Sachs, Accel and Anderson Hollowitz (Andreessen Horowitz), which have been through shopping applications, Online garage sales and testing new business models, and other ways to generate revenue on Facebook.

"The potential for E-commerce is very natural for Facebook," says Sam Schwerin, Facebook investor Sam Shvolin. "Amazon (Weibo) has brought innovation to online shopping by providing accurate and personalized referral services to users using the purchase data," Shvolin said. Similarly, with data, analysis and payment tools, Facebook can also promote the development of next-generation e-business.

Although Facebook declined to comment, investors said Facebook was also aware of the importance of having an e-commerce strategy.

"For Facebook, it's necessary to have an e-commerce business," said Sericia Gevou Lanzeta, executive partner of Accel Partners, Theresia Gouw Ranzetta. Facebook also knows that it is critical that e-commerce companies succeed on the Facebook platform. ”

Start-up companies to taste the first sweetness

By the end of 2011, Facebook had a 845 million-month active user, well above Amazon's 164 million active account and 100 million active users on the ebay (microblogging) online market.

Despite its huge user base, Facebook is currently the main tool for users to communicate with friends, not the preferred destination for online shoppers. Large retailers such as Penney, Gap and Nordstrom have previously created retail stores on Facebook, but have closed because of poor sales.

Still, it does not prevent startups, which are funded by some big VC firms, from seeking e-commerce opportunities on Facebook.

The fab.com, for example, has attracted 2 million of users to share buying habits with their friends through the buy button. For each check-in user, fab.com offers a 5 dollar reward each month, which attracts a large number of users.

Diego Berdakin, co-founder of BeachMint, a social-e-commerce company, Gos Burdakin that the company created a video called "Stylemint.tv" during the Christmas shopping season last year, showcasing the goods sold and clicking to buy them.

Zuckerberg, Facebook's sister and Mark Zackborg's global marketing director Landy Zackborg (Randi Zuckerberg), also appeared in the video, resulting in more than 50,000 Facebook users watching the video, A large number of users bought the goods and set a BeachMint sales record.

Danny Leffel, the former manager of ebay, created Yardsellr in 2010, Lofer it into the same community based on the common interests of the users. When a user sells a product, he or she notifies the user in the community that it can be purchased by clicking the mouse. As a result, monthly gross revenue grew by 30%. "The scale of social e-commerce may be over ebay," Lofer said. ”

The same is true of professional classified information website Oodle, the number of independent users has reached more than 3 million per month after opening online markets on Facebook. Craig Donato, co-founder and CEO of Oodle, said that when buyers and sellers posted a product, Facebook would authenticate and provide confidence in the user's dealings.

Search for a source

Currently, Facebook is mainly selling ads to businesses to get revenue. But industry experts believe that, over time, Facebook needs to look for new ways to make money, which is only a matter of time.

In the case of Facebook's collaboration with Zynga, a social-gaming developer, the virtual goods revenue that Zynga won through the games was 30% owned by Facebook.

Gamers buy Virtual Goods via Facebook's virtual currency Facebook credits, but some internet entrepreneurs say Facebook credits will eventually be available to buy in kind.

"Facebook has great opportunities in E-commerce, and they already have infrastructure and teams," said Christian Taylor, Payvment CEO Christian Thelles, a start-up company running thousands of Facebook stores. ”

But there are also analysts who are not bullish on Facebook credits, saying that the real-goods profit margins are low compared to the virtual ones.

"For virtual goods with virtually no cost, a 30% split is still a sizeable income," said Kevin Hartz, co-founder and CEO of Kevin Hatz, a Facebook partner and founder of Eventbrite. But if the TV is sold, the profit is small, and 30% of the pattern is not workable. ”

However, if E-commerce thrives on Facebook, Facebook will find new sources of revenue.

Laura Valverde, co-founder of Beetailer, which runs more than 3,000 stores on Facebook, said: "The most common risk after setting up a storefront on a platform like Facebook is that the platform provider later changed the rules." ”

"We've seen this on Facebook credits and games," Wallword said. So once E-commerce is booming, Facebook will naturally try to make a profit in some way. "(Li Ming)