Social media site Twitter is set to move into e-commerce in a bid to achieve greater revenue streams.
A ‘buy now’ button will be introduced inside tweets on the site and its mobile app, allowing users to click through and purchase items directly from the tweet. It is hoped that this will boost interest in advertising on Twitter, nytimes.com reports.
The buttons will only be tested on a “small percentage of US users” to begin with, and brands that have currently signed up for the trial include retailer Burberry, non-profit group Nature Conservancy, singer Rihanna and the rapper Eminem. A user only needs to enter their payment and shipping details once before the service or individual merchant remembers them for future purchases. Tapping a button will then be all it takes to complete a transaction.
Nathan Hubbard, Twitter’s head of commerce, was quoted by irishtimes.com as saying: “What we see today are conversational relationships that already exist between brands, artists and charities and our users with conversations happening every single second, frequently in service of a transaction. Now, where appropriate, we’re making that conversation transactional.”
Time-limited goods such as event tickets will be the first items sold through Twitter. Until now, users have only been able to buy via Twitter through public messages with particular hashtags.
Author: Jack Stanton
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