Facebook?s decision to exit the daily deals business suggests that Google, Amazon and Groupon may face challenges in the mobile space as well.

Daily deals are hot right now, with Groupon planning an initial public offering and new entries to the space launching on a regular basis. While Facebook, which is a giant in both social networking and mobile, seemed like a natural in daily deals, the company recently said it will cut short its four-month test for Facebook Deals.

?Facebook?s decision may portend several issues down the road for other players that have massive marketing lists but no sales force on the ground, including Amazon and Google,? said Peter Krasilovsky, vice president at local media research firm BIA/Kelsey, Chantilly, VA.

Feet on the ground
Google is actively building out its own daily deals product, Google Offers, and recently acquired daily deals provider The Dealmap. AmazonLocal also continues to expand, with the online retailer?s daily deals offering now in 30 markets, per Mr.Krasilovsky.

Facebook began testing Facebook Deals in April. The daily deals service provided offers in five cities and aggregated deals from other daily deals services. Facebook had a small sales team arranging deals with local merchants.

However, what all of three offerings lack is a large sales force such as Groupon has, per Krasilovsky.

?I think Facebook made the right decision,? Mr. Krasilovsky said. ?They weren?t really able to differentiate themselves by aggregating deals.?

?In several months, I had not received any deal of value,? he said.

?For users, because the deals were not specifically targeted to them, there was no real advantage to using the Facebook Deals medium.?

However, Facebook?s decision to exit the daily deals does not mean that it is walking away from local marketing.

Facebook suggested just as much in a statement regarding its decision to shut down Facebook Deals.

?After testing Deals for four months, we?ve decided to end our Deals product in the coming weeks,? the statement said.

 ?We think there is a lot of power in a social approach to driving people into local businesses. We remain committed to building products to help local businesses connect with people, like Ads, Pages, Sponsored Stories, and Check-in Deals,? it said.

?We?ve learned a lot from our test and we?ll continue to evaluate how to best serve local businesses.?

Facebook recently phased out Facebook Places in order to integrate location functionality throughout Facebook. And, in another sign that its location strategy is evolving, the company is building up its local team, per Mr. Krasilovsky.

?They are obviously making some big decisions as to how they want to go after the local market and be really relevant to users,? Mr. Krasilovsky said.

?We will probably see Facebook reorienting in how it deals with the tremendous advantages in local,? he said.

?I wouldn?t count them out at all ? I think they will be a major player in the space.?

One possible scenario for Facebook would be to partner with a daily deals company such as Groupon or LivingSocial.

Groupon is already sourcing deals to a number of players; Facebook and Groupon could be partners down the road instead of a competitive,? Mr. Krasilovsky said.

?LivingSocial and Facebook have worked together going way back ? they could be partners, too,? he said.

Final Take
Chantal Tode is associate editor on Mobile Marketer, New York