Twitter Launching Buy Button for Commerce

Would you click on a buy button on Twitter?

Would your business use a buy button to sell on Twitter?

Shortly before Twitter went public a year ago, Twitter poached former Ticketmaster CEO Nathan Hubbard to head e-commerce. This will be their first major e-commerce initiative.

Billions of dollars of online sales are already associated with social networks. Many marketers post messages on services like Twitter and Facebook promoting their products and offering links to external sites where they can be bought.

BUY BUTTON

Twitter will be testing the buy button come this Monday in tweets.

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 has partnered with Fancy (@fancy), Gumroad (@gumroad), Musictoday (@Musictoday) and Stripe (@stripe) as platforms for this initial test, with more partners to follow soon.

In the testing by Twitter, an entire purchase can be completed in just a few taps.

After tapping the “Buy” button, you will get additional details on the product.

You will then be prompted to enter your shipping and payment information.
Once that’s entered and confirmed, your order information is sent to the merchant for delivery.

Twitter had previously tiptoed into ecommerce with promotions that included letting users add products to their Amazon shopping carts by adding the hashtag #AmazonCart and partnering with Starbucks to let customers buy a $5 gift card for friends through the social network.

TEST GROUPS

While a small group to start it seems to cover a group of artists, brands, and nonprofit organizations. More heavily weighted to music. That’s interesting, I wonder if this is speaking to the Twitter demographics?

Security and Trust will be keys to overcoming privacy fears. Here is Twitter’s Privacy and Purchase Policy.

Beartooth (@beartoothband)
Brad Paisley (@bradpaisley)
Burberry (@burberry)
Dan+Shay (@DanAndShay)
Death From Above 1979 (@dfa1979)
Demi Lovato (@ddlovato)
DonorsChoose (@DonorsChoose)
Eminem (@eminem)
GLAAD (@glaad)
GLIDE (@GlideSF)
Global Citizen (@GlblCtzn)
The Home Depot (@HomeDepot)
Hunter Hayes (@HunterHayes)
Kiesza (@kiesza)
Keith Urban (@keithurban)
The Nature Conservancy (@nature_org)
Megadeth (@Megadeth)
Mike Stud (@mike_stud)
Panic! At The Disco (@panicatthedisco)
Pharrell (@pharrell)Paramore (@paramore)
(RED) (@RED)
Ryan Adams (@TheRyanAdams)
Soundgarden (@soundgarden)
The New Pornographers (@TheNewPornos)
twenty one pilots (@twentyonepilots)
Wiz Khalifa (@wizkhalifa)
9/11 Day (@911Day)

REVENUE STREAMS

Since going public, social media sites such as Facebook, and now Twitter need to be innovative in order to keep the shareholders happy. 90 day windows of financial results, continually put pressure on them to perform.

Twitter is real-time, which does give it an edge over Facebook. That real-time isn’t replicated anywhere else.

Twitter then could leverage those spontaneous buyers and others with limited-time offers.

“Part of the motivation just has to be to make the whole advertising process easier, to prove the returns and the conversion rates,” Arvind Bhatia, an analyst with Sterne Agee, told Mashable in an earlier interview about the ecommerce efforts from Twitter and Facebook.

Would you use the Twitter buy button?

About Blair

Blair Evan Ball is a Social Media Coach and founder of Prepare1, a company that works with businesses, individuals and non-profits. He is a former executive with a Fortune 50 company, and his national division did $1.3 Billion in sales annually.

Blair has written three e-books: Facebook for Business Made Easy, Facebook Pages for Business Made Easy, and WordPress Blog Setup Made Easy.

Blair also educates, trains entrepreneurs and business professionals how to amplify their brand, increase revenues, and raise more funds.

The Race is ON! – Get into the Game and WIN!