With the announcement today that Facebook Marketplace will be launching soon on the Android & iOS apps in the US, UK, Australia, and New Zealand, surely the poor folks at ebay, Gumtree and other online marketplace offering consumer-to-consumer and business-to-consumer sales services must be sweating right now. Or not?
According to Mary Ku, Facebook’s Director of Product Management,
“Facebook is where people connect, and in recent years more people have been using Facebook to connect in another way: buying and selling with each other. This activity started in Facebook Groups and has grown substantially. More than 450 million people visit buy and sell groups each month — from families in a local neighbourhood to collectors around the world.
To help people make more of these connections, today we’re introducing Marketplace, a convenient destination to discover, buy and sell items with people in your community. Marketplace makes it easy to find new things you’ll love, and find a new home for the things you’re ready part with. We’ll continue to build new options and features to make this the best experience for people. ”
One wonders how folks at an e-commerce marketplace in Nigeria, like OLX or JiJi, are preparing for this, seeing that there are already plans by Facebook to launch Marketplace in other parts of the world in the coming months. Hard to compete with a social network that 18 million Nigerians already know, use and love, a company with eternally deep pockets that can out-muscle you in any marketing contest.
How do you compete with a company valued at $350 billion and 1.7 billion registered users in its pockets!!!???
Or maybe our local guys won’t have to compete at all? Maybe they can come up with some cool, genius marketing strategy to keep their businesses alive? It will be interesting (and enlightening) to see how that goes.
With Mark Zuckerberg’s recent visit to Nigeria and recent overt moves the social (media, advertising, and content) giant has been making to capture that next billion users, it’ll be shocking to see Facebook Marketplace not succeed in places like Kenya, Rwanda, Nigeria and other growing sub-Sahara African economies.
Check out how Facebook Marketplace works below:
How Facebook Marketplace Works
Marketplace opens with photos of items that people near you have listed for sale. To find something specific, search at the top and filter your results by location, category or price. You can also browse what’s available in a variety of categories such as Household, Electronics and Apparel.
Use the built-in location tool to adjust the region you’re looking in, or switch to a different city altogether.
When you find something interesting, tap on the image to see more details from the seller, including a product description, the name and profile photo of the seller, and their general location. You can also save the item to find it later.
Decided that you want it? Send the seller a direct message from Marketplace to tell them you’re interested and make an offer. From that point on, you and the seller can work out the details in any way you choose.
Facebook does not facilitate the payment or delivery of items in Marketplace.
How To Post Items for Sale on Facebook Marketplace
Selling an item in Marketplace is just as easy as browsing for one. Simply:
- Take a photo of your item, or add it from your camera roll
- Enter a product name, description and price
- Confirm your location and select a category
- Post
Now anyone looking in your area can find your item and message you if they want to buy it. You can also choose to post to Marketplace and a specific buy and sell group at the same time.