Starting today, a small number of Twitter users in the U.S. will see a
purchase-enabling "buy" button in tweets from certain artists, brands
and non-profit organizations. Twitter is launching the test as part of
its effort to grow revenues, especially via mobile channels."This is an early step in our building functionality into Twitter to make shopping from mobile devices convenient and easy, hopefully even fun," Twitter group product manager Tarun Jain wrote on the company's blog. "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."
Twitter developed the feature in partnership with several online retailers, including the social shopping platform Fancy, digital product marketplace Gumroad, direct-to-fan commerce site Musictoday and Stripe, which provides a cross-device payment platform for one-click purchasing. Jain added that more partners will be coming on board soon.
Musicians, Charities Among Early Merchants
While only a limited number of users will see the buy button at first, Twitter plans to expand the feature over time, Jain said. Tapping the button will take users to additional details about the product they're interested in, after which they will be asked for their payment and shipping information. Upon entering that, their orders are forwarded to the merchant.
Among the first sellers whose tweets will be able to include the buy feature are country artist Brad Paisley, The Home Depot, the social justice advocacy initiative Global Citizen, the band Soundgarden, the Nature Conservancy and the 9/11 National Day of Service and Remembrance.
According to Jain, Twitter will encrypt and securely store first-time users' payment and shipping information so buyers can make future purchases without having to re-enter that data
. If they prefer, users also have the option of removing their payment and shipping details from their accounts.
M-Commerce Growing Fast
Twitter is exploring a number of ways to increase both its revenues and user base. While the company has seen its ad earnings grow, it has yet to turn a profit. In its most recently quarterly report, it showed ad revenues of $277 million, which was 129 percent higher than in 2013.Founded in 2007, Twitter reported that it has 271 million monthly active users, a large number of whom use their mobile devices to send and read tweets.
Many companies are looking to enable faster, easier mobile purchasing as the number of mobile device users grows. According to recent figures from the digital measurement and analytics
firm comScore, year-on-year growth in mobile commerce stood at 47 percent in the second quarter of 2014.