With a survey of Twitter users finding 60 per cent of followers purchase something because of Twitter and 43 per cent of followers intend to purchase regularly from small businesses, the social media platform this week made moves to close the gap between content sharing and sales.
Users will soon be able to buy directly from a tweet, with Twitter unveiling a ‘buy’ button that advertisers can embed into their tweets. While it’s currently just being trialled with a number of US test partners, it will expand to include further partners from all across the globe, including Australia.
A statement from Twitter reads, "This is an early step in our building functionality into Twitter to make shopping from mobile devices convenient and easy, hopefully even fun. Users will get access to offers and merchandise they can’t get anywhere else and can act on them right in the Twitter apps for Android and iOS. Sellers will gain a new way to turn the direct relationship they build with their followers into sales."
The first time a user clicks the buy button in a tweet, they will be given additional product details and prompted to enter shipping and payment information. That order will then be sent directly to the merchant.
Twitter will securely store payment and shipping data, so a user will only be asked to enter their information once. After the initial payment, consumers will only need to click on the buy button in a tweet, confirm the purchase, and the product will be sent. Payment details can be removed at any stage and will not be shared.
When you’re talking about a consumer’s payment info and commerce in general, we’re going to wade very cautiously into those waters - [so] when larger brands jump in they can feel great about the experience,” Twitter head of commerce Nathan Hubbard told WWD.
is one of the US test partners involved in the initial launch that includes retailers, charities and musicians.
Image via Mashable.
