Twitter launches e-commerce pilot programme in US

Shop Module will let retailers, businesses and independent brands showcase and sell products

Shop Module lets users scroll through a company's products and click to make a purchase without leaving the platform. Reuters

Twitter on Wednesday launched a pilot project in the US to test the potential for e-commerce on its platform.

Called “Shop Module,” the initiative will create a dedicated space at the top of a company's profile for firms and brands to showcase their products.

When Twitter users enable Shop Module, they can scroll through a company's products and click to make a purchase. Users complete the purchase through an in-app browser without leaving the platform, Twitter said.

Initially, the pilot scheme is available for those using English-language Twitter on Apple’s iOS devices.

“We believe in the power of the conversations that Twitter facilitates around products … we are starting small with a handful of brands in the US,” said Bruce Falck, revenue product lead at Twitter.

Twitter is also creating partnerships with businesses through a new “Merchant Advisory Board” that will consist of brands that have established themselves as “best-in-class examples of merchants on Twitter”.

“With their partnership, we hope to more easily address the needs of businesses of any size or vertical in our product innovation,” Mr Falck said.

San Francisco-based Twitter said Shop Module is a step in “better-supporting shopping” as it builds upon the Professional Profiles feature introduced in April that allows businesses, non-profits, publishers and creators to display work-related information on their profile page.

For now, Twitter is only allowing a small set of merchants to test the pilot, including gaming retailer GameStop and a travel brand. At this stage, businesses cannot sign up for the pilot.

In March, Twitter started testing a new process to showcase tweets that link to e-commerce product pages, like a Shopify store.