It’s probably accurate to state that a large amount of people rely on Facebook to keep track of their friends’ and family members’ birthdays. The Facebook team are aware of that fact, and last year introduced the option for American users to send each other both digital and physical presents - whether that was a panicked last-minute birthday / anniversary purchase or a painless & easy way to plan in advance.
Facebook acquired online gifting application Karma in early 2012 to help develop their own dedicated offering. One of the most unique options was that the gift recipient was able to set their own postal address when a notification alerted them that a gift was on the way: a handy tool when there’s uncertainty about a friend’s current location.
The service has proven to be somewhat of a slow starter. Rolled out to all US users last December, financial figures for the final quarter of 2012 suggest that around $5 million (€3.7 million) was earned from gifts and ‘user promoted content’ combined - a tiny percentage of the company’s overall earnings. Certainly, initial results indicated that estimates suggesting gifts could earn Facebook upwards of $1 billion annually were very optimistic (as were predictions it could help establish Facebook as an ‘Amazon beater’). Of course, Facebook can afford to take the time to increase a feature’s popularity, but they’ve seemingly conceded that one part of the experiment has failed.
Despite offering giftable products such as food, wine and plush toys, it’s estimated physical gifts accounted for a mere 20% or so of purchases overall. Instead, people predominantly opted for gift cards - offering ‘digital credit’ for services like iTunes, Xbox, Netflix and Starbucks via online code or an actual card for 'bricks-and-mortar' shops, restaurants and services.
Facebook has announced that they will now focus their Gifts feature exclusively on these gift cards, and the physical options have been retired accordingly. Unless local Facebook offices achieve their own deals with local suppliers, international users are now unlikely to be granted the opportunity to send their friends physical gifts if and when the service launches outside the States
However, alongside the news that the offerings would be downscaled, Facebook has also announced the remaining service will be refined. A new dedicated gifts page will be launched, simplifying the process. It will also start offering recommendations based on a user’s Facebook activities, suggesting possible gifts based on their likes, check-ins etc…
Facebook Gifts are still only available for recipients who live in the US.
