Facebook Acquires Small Startup To Offer Live Shopping Feature

Facebook seems to be planning to modernize and upgrade the form of shopping that grew popular in the 80s. Those infomercials where toll-free numbers flashing on television screens that eager shoppers can call to get their hands on the latest product will transition to cyberspace thanks to Facebook's recent acquisition.

According to Bloomberg, the social media giant had already acquired a company called Packagd earlier this year. And although the deal was unannounced when the acquisition took place, most of Packagd's team members had already joined Facebook back in September. The small team of Packagd has started working on a feature for Marketplace that would allow sellers to host "live shopping" where buyers can purchase products directly on a video broadcast.

Facebook had experimented with the same feature in 2018. The social network tested the Thailand market, where independent sellers use Facebook Live to sell all sorts of products. However, the payment method that the sellers have in place is very homespun, such as calling out interested buyers in the live video and then private messaging them details of the payment process.

But with the five-person company that Facebook acquired, the ordering process would be much simpler. And despite no further details being provided, some of the startup's past projects may offer a clue as to how Packagd will integrate to Marketplace.

Packaged was founded in 2016 by former chief technology officer of Hulu and Flipboard Eric Feng. In 2017, the company launched its first app called Unboxed. The app's purpose is to meld e-commerce and online video and it does that through Youtube's platform.

The app features products that viewers can buy directly on the videos streamed by the content creators Packagd is working with and the products are curated for specific categories. When a sale is made, the content creators earn a share of the revenue.

With Marketplace, one can speculate that users may see something similar to this capability.

"Packagd’s apps have the ability to redefine the mobile shopping industry, combining the best aspects of YouTube with Facebook’s live social interactions and Amazon’s effortless shopping experience in one platform for consumers," Kirsten Green, founder of Forerunner Ventures, said in a statement for Variety back in 2017.