Facebook Jumps into the Deals Battleground, Bad News for Google and Groupon

Facebook Deals is no secret. We have all seen a Deals page at Facebook for a month now. Finally, Facebook is launching deals as a service in Atlanta, Austin, Dallas, San Diego, and San Francisco. The difference with Facebook Deals, is that it integrates with the social aspect of Facebook. There are individual deals as usual, but you will also find deals that relate to group activities like live concerts.

Facebook has a massive audience, something that neither Groupon nor LivingSocial has. This Deals offering from Facebook is also a reply to Google’s deals offering. Another update that has come with Deals, is that Facebook will use its Credits system to offer the deal to its users. However, these credits can be used once a deal shows up in the user’s newsfeed.

It was speculated earlier that Facebook is trying to be different here by keeping only 30% of the total credit revenue. Though, Facebook has made it clear that the split will not necessarily be a 30/70. Additionally, this deal service finally brings the Facebook virtual currency into the real world.

Facebook has already gathered some partners to go ahead with the Deals offering.

Facebook will rely on its own sales force to find businesses interested in offering Deals. It will also tap other services that offer deals, including OpenTable, which focuses on restaurants, PopSugar City, which tailors offers to women, and Zozi, which focuses on outdoor activities like kayak excursions or wine-tasting tours.

Google and Facebook are fighting head on in the deals space and the parallel launch of their services gives immense competition to this field. Though, as I have always said, more the competition, more the companies are forced to deliver. At the end of the day, the user is the one who benefits.