Earlier this year, Facebook
has acquired a small video-shopping start-up. According to a company familiar
with the firm’s plan, this will help it build a live shopping feature inside
the giant’s Marketplace product.
The start-up bought is named Packagd. This is a firm made up of five persons. It is founded by Eric
Feng who, in 2017, announced that his team was building a shopping product for
YouTube videos that could be thought of as “a re-imagination of QVC or a home
shopping network”. In September, most of the team joined Facebook, even if the
acquisition was not announced yet.
Currently, the employees are working on a project for
Marketplace. This would allow users to purchase products while watching live
video broadcasts. A similar feature was tested by the social media giant a year
ago in Thailand. However, merchandise could not be bought directly and the
service has been shut down.
A spokesperson has confirmed the development of this new
e-commerce product saying, “As we’ve shared in the past, we’re exploring ways
to let buyers easily ask questions and place orders within a live video
broadcast”. The concept of live shopping is becoming increasingly
popular, especially in countries like China. For instance, Alibaba
has made it an important element of its Single’s Day this year.
Facebook
is working on a new live shopping tool
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