Facebook Mexico Appoints Marco Casarin as New Director

As Facebook shares soared yesterday in response to the launch of Shops, the company said that Marco Casarin will be the new director for Mexico, replacing Xóchilt Balzola-Widmann, who resigned in early 2020 and now serves as Apple Director of Sales in Germany.

“I am excited and grateful to Facebook for the opportunity to join the company and help generate value for our community in Mexico. These are times for solidarity, resilience, innovation and also to offer new business opportunities. I am excited to start this new professional and personal journey,” said Casarin in a statement.

Casarin, born in Mexico City, worked for Microsoft for 25 years across the Latin America region. After leading the company in Colombia, he will now work with Facebook in Mexico, strengthening ties with global companies, advertising and digital marketing agencies, as well as other strategic partners.

Amazon’s Bane?

Earlier this week, Facebook launched Shops, an online shopping service that will allow businesses to display and sell products on their social media platforms, the company’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg said on Tuesday. The new feature will be a free service available to all Facebook and Instagram users, which will allow products to be sold and the possibility to personalize virtual stores.

The following day, Facebook shares hit new all-time highs. The social network's share value reported a 6.04 percent rise to US$229.97 per share, according to Bloomberg data. Facebook's previous highest close was on January 29, 2020. The stock has gained 11 percent during the year and 56 percent since last March 16. 

According to AB Bernstein, Shops could unlock a US$1.3 trillion market, while Morgan Stanley said the company can become a competitor to Amazon and Alphabet. In addition, the volume of activity and user engagement is higher on Facebook than other social networks. In Mexico, e-commerce brands register 18.87 percent of their total interactions on their Facebook profiles, a Socialbakers study revealed this week.