Facebook on Thursday night expanded the physical gifts market it launched in September, widening to include "tens of millions," more users, in the words of Facebook Gifts chief Lee Lindon, as The Verge reported. The service also has pulled in new retail partners as its sellers, including babyGap, Fab, Brookstone, Dean & Deluca,L'Occitane, Lindt, ProFlowers, Random House, Inc., NARS Cosmetics. Digital content purchases are also now available from partners including Hulu Plus, Pandora, Rdio "and more," as Facebook wrote in a press release.

Facebook Gifts, launched for select U.S. users in September, the social network's first big push into the e-commerce market. It shows up for users as a tiny pink present icon with the words "Buy a Gift" on the bottom portion of alerts for Friends' birthdays and other holidays (screenshot below): 

Clicking on the icon gives users a pop-up window showing a grid of available items (screenshot below): 

Users can choose the item and then the recipient is notified and given the opportunity to modify the size or color, if relevant, and to accept the gift. The money goes back to retailers, though it is presumed that Facebook takes a cut. Facebook declined to respond to TPM when asked earlier about monetizing the service. 

(H/T: The Next Web)