Facebook Marketplace opens in Egypt; how can you use the platform?

By Think Marketing on February 5, 2018

Facebook has just released its Marketplace feature for Egypt, opening a wide new door for Egyptian Garage sales and marketers.

Earlier today, Facebook announced it is finally releasing its Marketplace tab for Egypt, making Egypt among one of the first countries in the MENA region able to buy and sell things throughout the platform.

Facebook’s Marketplace makes it easy to discover, buy and sell items within the Facebook community. Users will be able to search for specific items, or search for near by sales from within the social platform.

With a search option, popular items/sellers, and nearby sales categories, users will have an easy time finding what they need. They can then directly message the seller to discuss terms and delivery.

For sellers, it is as easy as 4 steps. Take a photo of your product, enter a name, description and price, confirm your location and category, and post!

Marketplace is a new tab, available now, on the side of the Facebook timeline with the other explore tabs. Currently, the tab is available but still offline. The tab will be available in Arabic as well.

Talking about the new option, Jonathan Labin, Managing Director, Middle East, North Africa and Pakistan at Facebook stated, “Over 550 million people globally use Facebook today to buy and sell items in local communities. Marketplace builds on this momentum to create a single destination for people to discover, buy and sell items…

With an existing community of 164 million active monthly users in the Arab world, Facebook already has an audience that spends a lot of time on the platform – adding a mobile commerce function can help cement Facebook as the go-to app for almost all of one’s Internet-related needs.”

Using the Platform

For marketers, Facebook’s own E-commerce platform is a new beast to tame in our aim to reach audiences.

Due to its position within an already extremely popular social platform, one that tries to enable advertisers a space to show themselves, Marketplace can be a very interesting and lucrative place for marketers.

Here are some things you should take note of.

Brand Awareness

One of the ways that the Marketplace can be used is for Brand Awareness.

Having a product listing on Marketplace can provide you with a potential wide range of audiences. Users can find you when looking through categories, this also allows for a more targeted approach since users are already looking for your product or service.

When Facebook released the platform back in 2017 in America, Adweek stated “Facebook added that the buying and selling experiences triggered by Marketplace have led to a growth of 77 percent in users who may not have otherwise connected.” So, it is possible that the same thing could happen here.

Brand Awareness is made easy with a direct focus on the product, date and time, and a local address.

The only setback is that currently sellers can only use their profiles in order to post a listing. International marketers have gotten around this with a simple addition of their brand’s name and website on the description of the item.

Building Trust

Although many will see it as a limitation, posting through a personal profile may help marketers build trust with consumers.

Trust makes the difference in a sale and a pass, which is why it is important to use opportunities, like this, in order to build them.

Through the seller’s profile, people have the opportunity to put a face to the seller. This helps them get to know you, and feel a certain sense of security that many don’t have when shopping online.

Most people who shop online will only buy from brands or people they know and trust, this is one of the reasons why Craigslist and eBay don’t do well anymore.

Product Market Research

At the very least, Marketplace can give marketers some insight on what people are looking for in your categories.

Using the popular filter, marketers can search for their categories and look at what people are looking for. This provides an insight on what exactly is being demanded the most at that moment, then it is up to you to get your audience’s attention.