Facebook Marketplace is coming to MENA in these 3 countries

Facebook has announced the launch of its Marketplace feature in Egypt, Algeria and Morocco, enabling people to use the platform to discover, buy and sell items. Available in Arabic on mobile and desktop, the feature is expected to be rolled out to iOS and Android users over the next few weeks to users in these countries.

The service, first introduced in the US in 2016, is currently available in 51 other countries, and is restricted to people aged 18 and above. Egypt, Algeria and Morocco are amongst the first countries in MENA to be able to buy and sell items through the platform.

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Marketplace allows people to list and browse items for sale and filter results by location, price or categories such as furniture, electronics and apparel. People looking to use Marketplace can tap the new shopfront icon in the latest version of the Facebook app, while desktop users can click on a dedicated Marketplace tab. Buyers and sellers can communicate with each other using Facebook Messenger, and negotiate the terms of the sale. They can also keep track of all current and past transactions in the ‘Your Items’ section.

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Jonathan Labin, managing director, Middle East, North Africa and Pakistan at Facebook says in a statement, “Over 550 million people globally use Facebook today to buy and sell items in local communities. Marketplace builds on this momentum to create a single destination for people to discover, buy and sell items. The MENA region has seen a tremendous growth in online spending along with Internet penetration, rising from $2.7 billion to $7.3 billion over the last two years. With an existing community of 164 million active monthly users in the Arab world, Facebook already has an audience that spends a lot of time on the platform – adding a mobile commerce function can help cement Facebook as the go-to app for almost all of one’s Internet-related needs.”