Amazon customers given option to buy using Twitter hashtags
Amazon has partnered with Twitter on a shopping service that allows customers in the UK to add products to their Amazon shopping carts by tweeting the hashtag #amazonbasket.
Video: Amazon explains its new Twitter shopping service
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAm6pa9hPKA
Twitter users can now link their profiles to an Amazon account that will automatically add items to their shopping cart if they reply to a tweet that contains an Amazon product link with the hashtag. They will receive an email from Amazon when an item is added to their cart but will still have to go to the retailer to pay for the item and complete the purchase.
The service is currently available in the UK and the US, where customers must use the hashtag #amazoncart.
Twitter will not make money from any sales that result from the service. Last week, Twitter reported a loss of $132m for the first quarter on revenues of $250m as it continues to make acquisitions and boost sales and marketing efforts.
The move comes as Amazon looks for more ways to make the shopping experience on its website as simple as possible. In a video on the tie-up, the company highlights that the service means there will be “no more switching apps, typing passwords or trying to remember items you saw on Twitter.”
Brands are also promoting the feature, with Cadbury’s UK Twitter account tweeting details on its Dairy Milk Oreo with a link to the product page on Amazon and instructions to tweet #amazonbasket to buy it. Sony has also promoted the service for its 42-inch widescreen TV.