Facebook A Massive Market For Small Business?

Can Facebook and its much vaunted apps be a place to do real business or is it simply a bit of fun for vampire and pirate wannabes?  Well, Valentine’s day sees the launch of a new Facebook Platform from The Light Agency on behalf of Mars, the UK snackfood business.

Clearly Mars is no small businesses, but the fact that it’s chosen to target the 7 million plus users of Facebook in the UK is interesting for businesses of any size.

The Mars Facebook system allows users to buy each other sweets at the touch of a few buttons.  The system works by creating a unique scannable mobile voucher which can be redeemed for the Mars sweets of your choice at over 12,500 participating PayPoint stores.

This does allow for a certain amount of immediacy, but rushing out of the office to get your chocolate fix may come to nothing, if you can’t find a PayPoint terminal. 

The Mars case aside, combining a Facebook gift with an automated internet purchase, could prove an interesting business model not only for retailers, large or small, but also potentially for Facebook itself.

In the meantime, if you know of any small businesses already ‘trading’ on Facebook, do let me know.