Facebook has launched a new ‘deals’ service on its mobile application, which send users special offers to users based on their location.
The move offers advertisers another way to target Facebook users geographically, and the social network looks to boost its ad revenue.
The service will initially launch in the US, and Facebook has not disclosed when ‘Deals’ will roll-out internationally.
The service lets Facebook Mobile users look for a list of “nearby places,” with deals being denoted by a yellow price tag or sticky to the right of them.
There are four kinds of deals: individual deals, loyalty deals, friend deals, and charity deals.
The service also offers a ‘virtual punchcard’ for loyalty deals, with discounts for those users who bring new friends and customers.
Businesses can access the Deal workflow on just a single page, Facebook said.
The business can choose what kind of deal to set up, then add up to two lines of description text describing the deal.
Facebook will launch Deals with 22 partners, and will be opened to 20,000 small businesses across the United States.
Commenting on the new service, Eden Zoller, Ovum principal analyst, said: “Facebook has assets that can make its deals concept fly. It a hugely popular, high engagement social platform with enormous reach that combined with location features and viral marketing can literally get people into a stores and buying stuff.
“This is a very appealing scenario for advertisers and presents a new revenue stream for Facebook that has the potential to scale and ramp up nicely with a base of 500 million users, of which 200 million already use mobile devices to interact with the service.
“Consumers should like the deals concept too, providing they offer genuine value and Facebook can ensure privacy and security are kept watertight. Facebook already receives flack over issues in this area and the last thing it needs is a blow up from a new location services.”
Read the official blog here.
