Washington: Twitter has launched a platform for real-time commerce, which would now allow users to buy things from the social micro-blogging website.
Twitter has added a big ‘Buy’ button that will appear alongside an image of the item for sale.
The new service would allow users to make one-click purchases from inside a tweet if they are logged into the app or web service, The Verge reported.
It’s the first major e-commerce initiative for Twitter since hiring former Ticketmaster CEO Nathan Hubbard as Head of Commerce a year ago, shortly before the San Francisco-company went public.
Hubbard said they are trying to build the shortest path between an offer and a completed sale, to eliminate the friction of clicking a link that takes you to another website where you might have to type in a whole bunch of information each time.
Twitter also says users taking part in the test will get offers and merchandise not available elsewhere. They can complete the transaction in a couple taps.
Artists, brands and non-profits such as Burberry, DonorsChoose and Pharrell are among the accounts that will have tweets featuring a “buy” button.
The move comes at a critical time for Twitter as it looks to increase revenue, as user growth has slowed in recent quarters. While there will be skeptics who say people don’t come to Twitter with an intent to purchase goods, Hubbard says analyzing the content of tweets across the service proves otherwise.
Twitter believes the shopping-enabled tweets could also boost its advertising business, as retail brands and other entities could pay to place “Buy†buttons in front of users who don’t follow their accounts. Some brands already advertise products within these promoted tweets, and letting people buy directly within the Twitter posts could help increase purchases.
(With ANI inputs)