Facebook Unwraps Online Gift Store With Free Shipping Feature

Facebook Inc the social networking firm has stepped into the e-commerce platform by unwrapping a new feature, which will allow the users to buy and send gifts.

Users can buy and ship products from “Facebook Gift” vendors including Warby Parker eyeglasses, Starbucks coffee and Magnolia Bakery's pastries based in New York.

This new feature is an attempt made by the company to open a significant revenue system. Facebook relies mainly on its display advertising, which has helped the company in making a revenue of $1.18 billion.

Facebook product manager heading the Gifts feature, Lee Linden said, "People already use Facebook to communicate with their friends and share all of their life moments. Gifting is just a natural extension of that behavior. It makes a lot of sense for us not to just say 'Happy Birthday' but to send a gift, not just say 'I love you' but send some flowers."

With almost 1 billion active users, the Mark Zuckerberg social network is aiming to offer effortless shopping and shipping of the goods. Users will be notified when their orders are shipped and will receive a customizable card stamped with the Facebook logo. Also, consumers who do not like the gifts can swap the colors and sizes at no additional charges.

He added that, "We think we can make an end-to-end way to buy a product that is very seamless. We take care in the photos, in the packaging, in everything."

Initially, this gifting service will be rolled out only a particular group of US based users who log in to the social network through the website or Android app. Further, it was also revealed that an iOS app of the same is under development.