Facebook has acquired TheFind, a sophisticated e-commerce search app. The acquisition is said to be less about online selling and more about improving the relevance of the social network's advertising.
The eight-year-old startup, which bills itself as "the only way to search the entire shoppable web," has earned its popularity as a search and price comparison site. Putting a description such as black cocktail dress in TheFind brings up scores of results from Neiman Marcus, Saks, Nordstrom, Modcloth and other websites. The company claims to offer half a billion products across half a billion stores, which include Amazon, Target, Best Buy and other major chains.
TheFind promises to allow users to "compare prices on any product from every store at once, including tax and shipping," as well as seek out coupons. More recently, it began personalizing those searches by tapping users' buying behavior and preferences shown on Facebook through "likes" and demographic information on their profile.
The search engine will shut down in the next few weeks. Facebook said it plans to use TheFind's technology to better tailor ads to its members' interests.
"Together, we believe we can make the Facebook ads experience even more relevant and better for consumers," Facebook said in a statement released to the media. "Our business is about connecting people with the topics, companies, brands, and increasingly products they care about and we look forward to doing that with TheFind on board."
"Facebook's resources and platform give us the opportunity to scale our expertise in product sourcing to the over one billion people that use the platform," wrote TheFind on its website.
The acquisition comes as Facebook has begun testing "buy" buttons that let advertisers sell products through advertisements on the social network.
While Facebook has sought to find ways to profit from people finding things to buy as they browse their social networks, it hasn't always succeeded. For example, the company discontinued a service that sent birthday gifts. Now, Facebook is focusing its efforts on e-commerce-related ads and putting direct links to products that are later purchased.
- Facebook Buys a Company That Could Solve an Annoying Online Ad Problem - Adweek
- Biz Break: Facebook acquires TheFind, a Mountain View shopping search site - San Jose Mercury News
- Facebook Buys And Shuts Down Shopping Site TheFind To Boost Commerce In Ads - TechCrunch
- Facebook Snags E-Commerce Startup TheFind: Injecting Steroids Into Facebook Ads? - Tech Times
- Facebook Acquires Social Shopping App TheFind - The Wall Street Journal (sub. required)