Amazon has partnered with Facebook to offer a new gifting feature called “Friends & Family Gifting.” Amazon already offers a feature which allows users to log in and create a wish list of items they are interested in. If someone know a user’s information they can then view the wish list, purchase the items as gifts, and have them delivered. Unfortunately if a user’s information is unknown it can be difficult to find their wish list.
By partnering with Facebook, Amazon has made this feature even easier to use. On the sign in page for the Friends & Family Gifting there is a prompt to add friends and family from Facebook. By adding Facebook friends the feature can send birthday and anniversary reminders. Amazon can also use Facebook to gather information and offer gift suggestions.
This news comes just one day after Facebook launched their own Facebook Gifts service. This service also syncs with your friends list and will issue reminders and gift ideas. Like the new Amazon feature, gifts purchased from this application can also be delivered.
Last year in November Walmart launched Shopycat which is another tool that can make gifting easier. The Shopycat application claims to “solve your gifting problems by discovering awesome gifts for your friends, your family, and yourself,” through Facebook. Shopycat offers suggestions and shipping options using your Facebook friends list.
Amazon is still working out a few issues associated with their new connection to Facebook, but they offer a FAQ section that addresses most of the issues and offers suggestions to get the new Gifting feature synced and working.
