Facebook attracting open market customers... Acquires 'Chatbot' startup

Acquisition of 'Customer,' an Online Customer Service Software Company Worth 1 Trillion Won

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Jae-hee] Facebook has acquired an online customer service software development company valued at around 1 trillion won to strengthen its online shopping services. This is expected to help businesses and small merchants using Facebook's open market, Facebook Shops, secure and maintain customers.

According to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) on the 30th (local time), Facebook announced that it had acquired 'Customer,' a customer service and chatbot development company. Customer is a software company that develops systems for automatic responses to customers online. Although the exact acquisition price was not disclosed, the industry estimates Customer's market value at about 1 billion dollars (approximately 1.1 trillion won).

Facebook's acquisition of Customer is interpreted as an effort to strengthen the open market service 'Facebook Shops,' launched last May. Facebook Shops is a service that allows small and medium-sized enterprises to sell products using their Facebook and Instagram accounts. Facebook considered that online shopping customers communicate with companies via Messenger instead of phone calls. According to Facebook, more than 175 million people use WhatsApp Messenger daily to communicate with businesses. It sees the importance of enhancing customer service through websites, chatbots, emails, and other channels.

In particular, the rapidly growing online shopping market, which has accelerated further this year, is also cited as a reason for Facebook to strengthen its open market service. This is due to customers flocking to online shopping amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Adobe Analytics, responsible for analyzing data for software company Adobe, forecasted on the 27th that U.S. Black Friday online sales reached a record high of 9 billion dollars (about 10 trillion won), followed by Cyber Monday sales expected to reach 12.7 billion dollars. The National Retail Federation (NRF) also projected that retail sales in November and December this year would increase by up to 5.2% compared to the same period last year, reaching 766.7 billion dollars (approximately 846 trillion won).

WSJ evaluated the acquisition by stating, "CEO Mark Zuckerberg called Facebook Shops 'social commerce,' which will accelerate Facebook's shift from dealing with politics and other content." Facebook stated, "We plan to support Customer's operations by providing the necessary resources for business expansion, product offerings, and customer satisfaction."

CNBC assessed, "While companies Facebook has acquired so far mainly focused on building user features, this acquisition of Customer is unusual in that it relates to small businesses."

Facebook has expanded its business by acquiring prominent startups. In 2012, it acquired Instagram for 1 billion dollars, and in 2014, it purchased WhatsApp for 19 billion dollars.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.