Twitter has been testing a new feature that will allow businesses to sell items from their profile pages. The pilot known as Shop Module was launched in the US on 28th July with a showcase of products for browsing. Users can visit the profiles of brands that have this module enabled and scroll through the list of products. Tapping a selection will allow the user to learn more about it or even purchase without leaving Twitter’s platform.
This feature is currently limited to iOS and the English language.
Why Twitter is Working on Shop Module?
The social media giant said that people vigorously talk about products on the platform so they were excited about how actual shopping would turn out. Shop Module is still in the early exploration stages but the company is confident that it can be a source for such people to discover and purchase products while they communicate on Twitter.
For now, only a small number of brands are involved in the test run of this service. They include the likes of GameStop, Arden Cove, along with 10 others. The company did not say when will it allow more brands to start using the module.
Turning social media into Shopping Destination
Shop Module analyzes the kind of stuff that attracts people emotionally on the network. It may be a pair of shoes, a favorite sports team jersey, or a cosmetic that people usually talk about. This move by Twitter comes as competition for other platforms in the e-commerce sector. Other social media platforms like Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, and Pinterest have also added similar features to allow shopping on their platforms.
Twitter also experimented with the idea back in 2015 but later scrapped it in 2017. It said that it wanted to focus on more features at that time. However, the giant claims to back and with more energy to test how much potential there is for shopping on Twitter.
Twitter Plans to Earn other than Advertisements
The Shop Module plan is another way for Twitter to make money other than showing ads on the platform. During the course of 2021, Twitter has announced a slew of new updates. It launched a paid subscription service called Blue Twitter which offered some premium features. It also has plans to allow users to charge their followers for access to exclusive content. There is also a Tip Jar feature where users can link third-party payment services to their Twitter profiles.
The company also talked about building a Merchant Advisory Board that will help it assess business needs more easily.
