Twitter is piloting a new feature that allows businesses to add a shopping section to the top of their profiles, the company has announced. The Shop Module launches in the US today and offers a carousel of products for visitors to browse. Tapping a product will link to a listing with the option of making a purchase without ever leaving Twitter. The pilot is currently limited to iOS devices for people who use the service in English, Twitter says.
“People talk about products on Twitter everyday, so we’re excited about how this early exploration of the Shop Module can build a bridge between people talking about and discovering products on Twitter to actually purchasing them,” Twitter says. The pilot is only available with a small number of brands for now, including GameStop, Arden Cove, and around ten others. Twitter did not reveal a timeline for when it might expand to more brands.
Other social media platforms including Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Pinterest have also used new features to turn their services into shopping destinations, and even Twitter has previously experimented with embedding a “Buy” button directly into tweets (it officially dropped the feature in 2017).
The Shop Module pilot comes as Twitter is exploring ways of making money beyond showing ads. In this year alone, Twitter has announced a paid subscription service with access to premium features, as well as plans to let users charge for access to exclusive content, and a Tip Jar feature for one-off payments.
