Facebook Gifts is getting a major redesign that will end sales of physical gifts. It will now focus on suggesting you buy friends digital gift codes or Facebook’s omni-Gift Card credit to spend at brands and local businesses they Like, which now get their own Gifts landing page. These two types of Gifts made up 80% of sales, cost less to ship and support, so it makes sense to invest in them in the rollout coming the next few weeks. Facebook launched Gifts in September 2012 to fanfare that it might challenge ecommerce kingpin Amazon. Gifts fell short of those lofty expectations, though. The product let you buy physical gifts like chocolate and stuff animals or digital gift cards to Starbucks or Uber for friends on special occasions like their birthday. Facebook later added alcohol sales and iTunes Gift Cards, plus began surfacing opportunities to buy Gifts in mobile.
