Just a couple of weeks ago we reported that Twitter was strongly rumored to be gearing up to introduce a ‘buy’ button that could be embedded into tweets to encourage customers to buy products.
Now, Twitter has officially announced that they are starting to roll out the rumored buy button to a select amount of US users.
Today we are beginning to test a new way for you to discover and buy products on Twitter. For a small percentage of U.S. users (that will grow over time), some Tweets from our test partners will feature a “Buy” button, letting you buy directly from the Tweet.
Twitter says that this is an early step in building functionality to make shopping from mobile devices convenient and easy on the Twitter platform.
Twitter promises that users will get access to offers and merchandise “they can’t get anywhere else”, and they will have the ability to act on those offers right from the Twitter apps for iOS and Android.
“Sellers will gain a new way to turn the direct relationship they build with their followers into sales,” Twitter outlines as being the primary benefit for businesses.
For this project, Twitter has partnered with Fancy, Gumroad, Musictoday, and Stripe, with more partners said to be on the way.
In initial tests, an entire purchase can be completed in just a few taps. Here’s how it works — after tapping the “Buy” button you will be prompted to enter your shipping and payment information. Once that’s entered and confirmed, your order information is sent to the merchant and the transaction will be completed.
Twitter was careful to note that trust and security is one of their top priorities:
Your payment and shipping information is encrypted and safely stored after your first transaction, so you can easily buy on Twitter in the future without having to re-enter all of your information.
You can always remove that information from your account at any time, and your credit card information will never be shared directly with the seller.
