Twitter testing ‘buy’ button enabling shopping directly from a Tweet

New York -- Twitter announced on Monday that it has started testing a “buy” button embedded in posts that allow users to buy a product with a couple of clicks. The test comes at a time when competition in mobile e-commerce is growing. Facebook has been testing a “buy” button on its platform since July, and Apple is expected to debut a phone-based payment system on Tuesday as part of the newest version of its iPhone.



“Today we are beginning to test a new way for you to discover and buy products on Twitter,” Twitter said in a blog post on its site. “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. This is an early step in our building functionality into Twitter to make shopping from mobile devices convenient and easy, hopefully even fun.”



The feature on Twitter is initially targeted at selling limited-edition merchandise not available elsewhere, with the entire purchase completed with just a few taps. The initial sellers in the test include a mix of brands, artists and nonprofits including Burberry, The Home Depot, Brad Paisley, Pharrell and The Nature Conservancy.



“After tapping the “Buy” button, you will get additional product details and be prompted to enter your shipping and payment information,” Twitter wrote. “Once that’s entered and confirmed, your order information is sent to the merchant for delivery.”



To ease possible concens about security, payment and shipping information will be encrypted and stored after the buyer’s first transaction, allowing future purchases without the consumer having to re-enter all the information. The consumer also can always remove the information from his or her account.