Mobile Marketing and Commerce Strategies

A British company called Bango is proving to be an excellent addition to Facebook’s repertoire. The company makes it easy for users to buy things on Facebook through their mobile devices.

The company focuses on one-tap purchases according to the New York Times. Users can tap on the item they want, and the charge shows up on their phone bill at the end of the month. Bango does get a cut of each purchase made, but it did not say how much it got. Wireless carriers will also get a cut that has been negotiated with Bango, and Facebook will have the chance to bypass Apple and Google and avoid sharing revenue with rivals.

Yankee Group Principal Analyst Nick Holland comments

“As we have highlighted in recent research, the latent carrier billing opportunity has significant potential as a revenue stream for MNOs. However, there are limitations and operators tend to have less of an appetite for physical world purchases being billed to mobile accounts than for less risky digital content. The Bango/Facebook relationship is more in the comfort zone for MNOs—a third party dealing with the risk management of the transaction and little exposure to the messy world of chargebacks and fraud associated with buying physical goods. Still...couldn't operators cut out the middleman and work directly with Facebook?”