Twitter testing in-tweet shopping with ‘buy’ button

New York--After months of speculation that Twitter would find its way into e-commerce, the social media service officially announced the test launch of a tool designed to make shopping from the network easy.

According to the company’s blog announcement posted Monday, Twitter users will get access to offers and merchandise through Twitter that they couldn’t get anywhere else, as well as the ability to act on them immediately.

It also will provide sellers a way to turn the followers they’ve gained on the network directly into sales.

Only select Twitter users in the United States will see the “buy” button, which will be embedded in tweets, to begin with, allowing them the option to purchase goods and services from a select group of partners that Twitter worked with to develop the button, including artists, brands and nonprofit organizations. 

It will roll out across more users and include more partners in the coming months, Twitter said.

The buy button also only will be available on the mobile app for Android and iOS to start. The company has partnered with Stripe, which helps companies accept payment online and on mobile devices, in developing the button.

Twitter did not respond to questions about the selection process regarding which users will see the button or when the service will roll out to desktop Twitter.

According to Twitter, a purchase can be completed in just a few steps. 

After tapping the buy button, shoppers get additional product details and also are prompted to enter their shipping and payment information. Once that has been entered and confirmed, order information is sent to the merchant for delivery.

Twitter also said that payment information would be stored securely after the first transaction so that shoppers can buy in the future without having to re-enter all their information.

The buy button news comes as the competition in e-commerce continues to intensify and social media networks increasingly view their space as a potential moneymaker.

Twitter has been experimenting with web and mobile sales over the past year, announcing in May the ability for shoppers to add a product to their Amazon shopping cart using just the hashtag #AmazonCart. It also purchased infrastructure startup CardSpring this summer, which connects merchants and payments processors on web and mobile.

Now, the buy button not only prevents users from leaving the site but also gives Twitter the opportunity