Twitter Tests New Shop Module

Last week (22nd July) we reported that Twitter was testing downvotes on tweets. A few days later, on the 28th of July, Twitter announced a new test currently being undertaken.

Interestingly, the first announcement was published in the Twitter feed, whereas this time, it was communicated on their news blog.

Twitter Relaunches Shopping

Twitter began experimenting with shopping on its platform back in 2015; however, the social platform took a step back from this to ‘focus on other areas’.

On 3rd March, the Twitter Investor Relations account released a thread in which they revealed their plans to reinstate shopping on the platform.

In the thread, they admitted an awareness that they weren’t doing ‘a great job’ for the millions of businesses that use Twitter:

We’ve historically known that there are millions of small businesses on Twitter, but we weren’t doing a great job making the case to them for why they should advertise and making it really easy for them to buy ads. $TWTR

— Twitter Investor Relations (@TwitterIR) March 3, 2021

This was immediately followed by explaining that they were building their team to focus on creating an easy way for small businesses to set up an account and invest in ads and promotions:

So we’ve been increasing the team who sells to those small businesses and we’re also working on products to make it really easy for them to set up a presence for their business on Twitter, to buy ads and promote their Tweets in a really simple way. $TWTR

— Twitter Investor Relations (@TwitterIR) March 3, 2021

The thread also explained their plan step-by-step:

1. Working on further improving DR products, including app installations.
2. Focusing on enticing Twitter users to click through to a brand’s website.
3. Assisting Twitter users to purchase through the platform.

Then we’re also thinking about commerce. Helping people buy things on Twitter. We want to be really thoughtful about how we do this so that we’re helping advertisers find their customers and continue to own that relationship with the customer. $TWTR

— Twitter Investor Relations (@TwitterIR) March 3, 2021

It is this last point that has led the social platform to experiment with the Shop Module.

The Shop Module

The Shop Module is an extension of Professional Profiles, in which anybody who uses Twitter for work purposes can showcase information on their profile pages.

Professional Profiles are a new tool that will allow businesses, non-profits, publishers, and creators — anyone who uses Twitter for work — to display specific information about their business directly on their profile.

— Twitter Business (@TwitterBusiness) April 21, 2021

When it was announced in April, the Twitter Business account stated that Professional Profiles were being rolled out to ‘a small pool of businesses in the U.S.’.

The Shop Module will have a similar rollout, in that people who meet the following criteria will be able to see the feature:

• Users in the U.S.
• Users who use Twitter in English
• Users who use Twitter on iOS devices.

The Shop Module sits at the top of a business profile, and users will be able to scroll through products displayed via a carousel, click on a product to learn more about it, and make a purchase without leaving the Twitter app.

In the announcement, Bruce Falck, the Product Lead at Twitter, wrote:

“​​With this pilot, we’ll get to explore how our engaged, responsive and chatty audience reacts to products that are emotionally charged — like a new jersey from your favorite sports team — or that provide lasting impact — like a new skincare regimen. And, fundamentally, it’ll give us the chance to keep learning about which shopping experiences people prefer on Twitter.”

A New Merchant Advisory Board For Businesses

Twitter also stated in the post that part of the learning process involves building ‘deeper partnerships’ with businesses and is doing that through a Merchant Advisory Board.

The board consists of businesses that are considered to be ‘best-in-class’ examples of Twitter merchants.

The aim is to find easier ways to address the needs of brands of any vertical or size.

Although the launch is presently only available to a handful of individuals, the announcement closed with a mention of businesses across the globe having access to customized profiles.

It also refer

Therefore, it could be assumed that this ‘test’ could eventually be rolled out to everybody.

Read the full release here: Twitter Shopping: Testing the Shop Module