A key milestone for both Facebook and companies like EasyJet, a European low cost airline, would be to allow users to conduct the entire experience and the actual transaction within the Facebook environment.
Although that has not happened yet (transactions need to be done on a destination website), the airline’s newly launched ‘Holiday Planner’ tool will eventually let users purchase flights without leaving Facebook. This would be industry first.
A spokesperson for EasyJet described the new tool: “The group holiday planner lets you co-ordinate dates and availability and invite your friends via Facebook and email. We’re looking to develop this further by adding booking functionality.”
Facebook has always been a huge traffic driver for destination sites, and using it for marketing campaigns has become ubiquitous. But now we are witnessing a shift where the entire experience, including eCommerce could take place within Facebook.
From a user perspective this is a positive development. If a user wants to book a flight or conduct a transaction, they want the easiest way with the fewest barriers. With Facebook’s growth continuing, destination sites may lose their long standing importance.
I just gave this a quick try, and I'm not overly impressed.
After going through all the steps required to use the application and entering where you wanted to go, upon clicking the “Book Now” link it takes you to the 'blank' normal easyjet homepage, requiring you to fill in your requirements once over.
Beyond the obvious advantage of being able to browse locations with friends, having to repeat filling in the same data seems to make the Facebook application somewhat useless. However, it will be interesting to give it another shot once additional functionality has been added.
I agree with you. I think the overall trend is more interesting than the actual execution in this case. Of course, let's wait until they launch the booking engine…