NEW YORK: The social networking giant, Facebook announced that it has acquired online shopping search site, TheFind. Facebook plans to improve its e-commerce advertisement retargeting with its latest acquisition. The announcement of the acquisition was also mentioned on TheFind page. The details of the deal have not been made public yet.
TheFind is a shopping search engine that lets users compare product price. Headed by Chief Executive Officer Silva Kumar, the company poses a challenge to large retailers, with the service offering simple price comparisons to it users. TheFind has about 500 million products indexed across approximately 500,000 stores. It also looks to use its customers’ Facebook activity data to provide personalized ads, tailored to suit their individual demographic profiles. It had gained popularity among users for its ability to provide comparative prices of products from sellers like Target, Wal-Mart, EBay, Amazon, and others.
The company mentioned on its site that it would take its search engine offline for the coming few weeks. It aims to integrate its technology with Facebook to make the social site’s existing ads more relevant.
This acquisition is expected to facilitate Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) users, and provide them the best prices in market, possibly helping the company rake in improved revenue through its advertising agreements with retailers and other platforms. Facebook will now make use of its users’ activity on third-party apps and sites, connected to provide customized ads to users. This means users will not be constantly bombarded with ads of products that they have already purchased.
Facebook has been engaged in the e-commerce space for quite some time now. It features an entire column to the right side of its home page, dedicated specifically to ads tailored to users’ profiles and demographic details. It is also rumored to be testing a “Buy” button, similar to its “Like” button, which will let users shop without having to leave Facebook. The social networking giant also used to offer a service that would let users send birthday gifts to each other, but it has been discontinued. It appears the company is serious about its aspirations to gain a strong foothold in the e-commerce industry, with its social presence has been slowly overshadowed by competition from rivals like Twitter and other aspiring entrants.
Out of 56 analysts covering Facebook, 47 rate it a Buy, and eight recommend a Hold. The 12-month average price target is $91.34, which reflects a 17.0% return potential on the last closing price.
