Twitter Buy Button Really Opens For (eCommerce) Business

Twitter has finally taken its “Buy Now” button mainstream, making it widely available to U.S. retailers looking to sell products, digital goods or services directly within a Tweet.

The Buy Now button will be integrated with a number of platforms that support eCommerce sites for a variety of merchants, the social network announced yesterday (Sept. 30).

“We have gone from testing this with hundreds of merchants to millions of merchants,” Nathan Hubbard, Twitter’s head of commerce, told The New York Times in an interview.

“It’s built into the software that they use every day to manage their business,” Hubbard continued.

The commerce partnerships slated to integrate the Twitter buy button include Bigcommerce, Demandware and Shopify and are powered by Stripe Relay.

“The goal for all our commerce initiatives on Twitter is simple: make it as easy as possible for businesses to connect directly with, and sell to, customers on Twitter,” the company said in a blog post.

The company added that its Buy Now button will remove friction in mobile commerce, while also allowing businesses to drive more conversations.

“Bringing commerce to customers however they want to shop is at the heart of the unified commerce strategies that retailers need to embrace to thrive,” Demandware CEO Tom Ebling said in a news release announcing its partnership with Twitter.

“This exciting partnership with Twitter streamlines another purchasing process, removing steps and barriers to drive higher conversion. I’m thrilled that Demandware is now enabling commerce opportunities for our clients on yet another social platform ready-made for retailer promotions.”

Twitter wasn’t the only player to make big moves in the social commerce game this week. YouTube also announced its own online shopping play.

Google is pairing up some ads with videos based on its algorithms. The ads will be small and basically unobtrusive — a small box appearing in the upper righthand corner of the screen. Clicking that box will present consumers with a drop down menu with a series of items available for purchase.

“What we realized here was that there was a great opportunity for our users, our creators and our advertisers,” Diya Jolly, head of ads at YouTube, noted of the over 1 million channels on YouTube directed toward product discovery in an interview with Mashable.

Merchants will be able to access the ads through the same process they use for regular shopping ads — auction. Content creators will also enjoy the same revenue split they do now with advertising.

“This is a native ad format. We’re doing a lot around native ad formats, and this is just one thing that we’re trying,” Jolly said.

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