Facebook is all set to claim its lost territory in the online retail market using its most powerful tool, Messenger. However, the future of Facebook's online market hangs on the success or failure of its experimental Chatbots.
Facebook is revamping its online retail presence ever more ambitiously than its previous attempts like 'Facebook Credits' (2011), Storefronts (2011), and 'Facebook Gifts' (2012). All of these features proved to be "all effort and no return" for Facebook and the companies using them.
Facebook is now looking to its extremely popular messaging app to get another chance in the market, by creating chatbots. Facebook has reportedly built 30000 bots since April, which are meant to provide customer service using the Messenger. 1-800-Flowers, Uber and CNN, have already signed up for this new service.
Facebook has also added an e-commerce feature to its new service. It is now allowing Messenger bots to accept payments, sparing users the hassle of leaving the app.
Therefore, a person can make instant purchases from their favorite stores and services with the bots if he has his credit card information stored with Facebook or Messenger, giving people an easier way to shop. What's more, Messenger has a in-built support for third-party payment services like PayPal and Stripe.
Facebook plans to launch the payments to a wider array of users by the end of this year. For now, the payments feature is being tested in the US in a closed circuit, with a limited number of companies like Spring (shopping app) and Hipmunk (travel site).
With Facebook's untiring attempt at creating thousands of bots, the social networking site appears set on making a comeback in the online retail market.
However, the Messenger bots have n0t yet come out of their experimental stage, and some users have reported the utter inconvenience of using them. What remains to be seen is how well this feature will do to substantially help the companies using it.