Facebook ‘Buy’ Button To Be Powered By Stripe [REPORT]

Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) is entering into an alliance with Stripe to power its “Buy” button, which the company started testing with the News Feed in July, according to Re/code.  Through the “Buy” button, users can buy goods that are displayed in ads or posts on Facebook.

Stripe the only partner for Facebook

Although the feature is in the testing phase, the report said that Stripe’s technology was supporting the button. A spokesperson for Facebook assured on Thursday that Stripe is the only payment partner behind the test. There was no comment from a Stripe spokesperson.

The clarification from Facebook’s spokesperson holds importance because the social networking site is in partnerships with other payment partners on different features, such as PayPal’s mobile payments unit, Braintree. Last year also Facebook and Stripe entered into a deal under which the social network’s users can auto-fill their payment information from Facebook while using third-party apps.

Stripe, on the other hand, has inked deals with some of the biggest names in the technology arena, such as Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR), and Chinese digital payments service Alipay, all in the last year, which is incredible for the 150-person start-up.

Facebook has the option of striking deals with other payment partners in the future, a possibility further strengthened by the hiring of PayPal President David Marcus, who is heading up messaging at Facebook. As of now though, Stripe is the only one to enter into a partnership with Facebook for running the “Buy” button test.

Twitter also takes its e-commerce plans further

Meanwhile, rival Twitter has also started testing its own “Buy” button to expand the area of its service and offer more to users. The button will be integrated into tweets and allows users to make purchases directly on Twitter and also through the mobile app. The micro-blogging site is portraying itself as a one-stop social media shop for users who prefer not to switch to the retail sites if they like a product.

Social media has been an effective medium for brands to create awareness among users. Previously, the performance of social media and its strategies’ effectiveness were measured in terms of soft metrics such as increasing impressions and click-through rates, but the return on investment has been unclear. With the “Buy” button, Facebook, and Twitter are focusing on ROI by measuring the number of people who actually purchase products they see on the social networks.