Planet Payment jumps on Facebook tie up

Planet Payment, the AIM-listed payment processing company, has seen its share price jump 7% this morning after announcing a deal to offer its services on Facebook.

The tie up is with Irish firm VendorShop, which makes shopping cart applications for Facebook merchants.

Using Planet Money will allow VendorShop to offer customers the chance to pay for the things they buy on Facebook in their own currency.

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The business case for focusing on Facebook is interesting.

Currently most companies have a Facebook presence and many users "like" companies so they get promotions and special offers.

Actually buying things through the site, however, is relatively new but it makes sense. Businesses don't like sending potential buyers to different websites as this increases the chances of losing them. By being able to buy things directly on Facebook the sales process is simplified.

Currently Facebook has 800m users.

Chris Small, Chief Executive Officer and Founder of VendorShop. "Facebook users already spend a huge amount of time on Facebook with more than 50% 'liking' a business page to find out about sales and promotions. So if I'm going to tell you about a product on my Facebook page, it makes sense to make it easy to buy right there."

Scott Goldthwaite, Senior Vice President at Planet Payment sees it in terms of cold hard numbers: "Facebook has the potential to become the biggest marketplace in the world, representing a significant opportunity for businesses to create a new revenue stream."

Planet Payment's shares have risen 86% this year.

BS