Facebook Improves Ecommerce Offerings by Acquring Kustomer for $1B

Facebook acquires Kustomer, an omnichannel customer relationship management company, for $1 billion. The social media giant hopes to improve its customer service features with this new acquisition.

Facebook plans on improving its offerings for businesses that have a digital presence on its social media network through Kustomer.

Kustomer also explains in a statement that although Kustomer will continue to own the data that is generated from customer interactions, Facebook eventually expects to host it.

It also adds that “while Facebook will not automatically use Kustomer data to inform the ads that a user sees, businesses will have the option to use their data at Kustomer for their own marketing purposes, which may include separate advertising services on Facebook.”

Kustomer CEO and Cofounder, Brad Birnbaum, also comments that “with our complementary capabilities, we will be able to help more people benefit from customer service that is faster, richer, and available whenever and however they need it–via phone, email, text, web chat, or messaging. In particular, we look forward to enhancing the messaging experience which is one of the fastest-growing ways for people and businesses to engage.”

As customers are increasingly communicating with business via messages instead of calling, Facebook has also started focusing on expanding its ecommerce offerings this year by adding shop features to its various apps.