Facebook to unveil Argos as UK Deals partner
Facebook is expected to announce the launch date of its Deals service in the UK on Monday (31 January), with Argos to be unveiled as one of the first retail partners.
Facebook Europe has invited a select group of journalists to an event on Monday morning when it is likely to reveal when Deals will be available in the UK. Other retail partnership announcements are set to follow.
The Deals service launched in the US in November and allows retailers, restaurants and businesses to offer location-based promotions to users of Facebook’s mobile tool Places.
Launch partners for the US offering included Gap, which gave away a pair of jeans to the first 10,000 Facebook users to check into its stores, and McDonald’s which donated $1 to its children’s charity for each check-in.
Speaking at a briefing in London on Tuesday, Facebook’s EMEA vice president and managing director Joanna Shields said of the Deals service: “Serendipitous meandering down the high street becomes incredibly opportunistic for merchants who have decided they will offer deals when you check into their locations.
“There is this new opportunity for merchants to activate serendipity to deliver an offer to someone they did not even realise was in the area. That is when you see this golden thread of social design make its way into commerce and other activities on the high street.”
Deals is similar to location-based group-buying site Groupon, which yesterday (27 January) said the Facebook service and the soon-to-be launched Google Offers will not see it lose its position as market leader.
Argos and Facebook declined to comment at this time.
