Twitter looks to ecommerce to compete with TikTok and Facebook

Twitter has announced it plans to move into ecommerce in the future amid its second quarterly report.

The platform’s chief financial officer Ned Segal said the company wanted to bring more online shopping capabilities onto the platform as rivals Facebook and TikTok invest in the space, in an interview with the Financial Times. 

Segal said Twitter plans to introduce a “buy button” to adverts in the future to allow users to buy things directly on the platform without leaving.

Business profiles on the platform will also be able to use a “buy button” on their pages to increase conversions.

The buy button had previously been introduced back in 2017 however was trashed after failing to gain traction.

The social media giant has also been working on a range of other features which include tools for tipping and subscribing to content creators as it attempts to grow engagement and diversify its revenue past its advertising arm.

READ MORE: Why livestream shopping is taking the ecommerce space by storm

“We will continue to work to make sure that we can help clear transactions, whether they are across borders or within the same geography, reducing the friction as much as possible. Commerce is an important part of our long-term strategy,” Segal added.

TikTok and Facebook have started to expand into the “social commerce” space themselves as more people spend time on their devices, with the latter introducing “Facebook Shops” in 2020.

The feature was introduced to “make it easy for businesses to set up a single online store for customers to access on both Facebook and Instagram.”

TikTok allows content creators to link products they like to their videos even if they are not formally sponsored by the brand.

According to researchandmarketing.com, the “social commerce” market is currently worth $89.4 billion and is expected to grow to $604.5 billion in the next seven years.

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