According to SmartBlog, the purchasing trend on Facebook is leading towards a revolution for online shopping. In the not-so-distant future, users may be able to purchase products through Facebook using credits rather than dollars. This new shopping process would eliminate the transition from Facebook page to company website for purchasing. If this process were to come to fruition, this shopping experience would compete with other shopping sites such as Amazon.
Now, money is still involved. Users would continue to purchase credits in bulk, a similar process to when one purchases a gift card. The more credits you purchase the better rate you receive.
Currently, credits are only being used to purchase digital goods such as games and streaming movies. This market is skewed towards children and teenagers. By getting merchants to sell their goods through Facebook this market could open up to users of all ages.
What will separate the men from the boys is that once users purchase a product on Facebook it will be instantly shared on their page for all their friends to see. This is already offered through some sites, but this will be instantaneous and seamless. If this new shopping experience becomes a reality, it could provide a whole other metric for marketers to target consumers. Say you’re in advertising and you want to target people who want to purchase running sneakers. You could target people that mention running keywords in their status. But what if you could target users that have already purchased running gear?
