FONU2's Social Commerce Website Goes Live After Beta Testing Success

There is an element of the social in most every business transaction. Retailers particularly understand this, and many are aggressively putting social media to work within the confines of said business. But putting social media to work in business can be a difficult and complex process, one that isn't easily understood and is easily failed. FONU2, meanwhile, may well have a solution in the form of a complete social commerce website designed to help businesses connect with potential customers on several different levels.

FONU2 has been operating in a closed beta for the last several months, according to reports, and offered a limited number of simulated transactions in what amounted to a sandbox sort of environment. But with the full release of the website comes access to several new points of capability, starting with the ability to sign up as members, to build profiles as both individuals and organizations, advertise goods and services available for sale, as well as conduct complete monetary transactions.

Users can currently get in on the action at no charge, complete with a test drive of the available services at FONU2, and FONU2 also plans to bring out some new features over the next several weeks, including a mobile app version and a prepaid debit card, along with some other tools that the company is presently keeping under wraps.

An early look at the website suggests that it's fairly easy to work with, if not necessarily populated by a whole lot of information just yet—searching Florida listings for “boat”, “apartment”, and “restaurant” all respectively turned up zero results, the link to Apple (News - Alert)'s App Store refers back to FONU2 itself, and there's one job listing with FONU2 itself unless I've missed something—so it's the kind of thing that may be worthwhile to get in on in the early going, so as to be ready for when the big parties start arriving.

Indeed, with the array of services set to arrive for FONU2, it's safe to say that this could ultimately be an online and mobile hub for local business just about anywhere, with businesses listing material available for sale, and even selling some of it, directly from the website in question. Indeed, the mobile component could prove just as valuable, potentially even more so, as things like location-specific offers come into play, synced to the use of a mobile device. Such a thing would not only allow users to find a particular thing in the vicinity, but also get a deal on said thing immediately, and that's a particular value for retailers.

With something like this, though, it's important to note that the possibilities inherent in a social media release like FONU2 are certainly there, but the ultimate success of said policies is less a matter of what's visible now and more a matter of what could arrive later, assuming proper execution. It remains to be seen just how well this will ultimately work, but it looks like the ground is laid for a sound overall release.