Twitter Unveils Plans To Enter E-Commerce Space - Forbes

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Topline

Twitter revealed its new Live Shopping program that will allow viewers to make in-app purchases from merchants’ websites in a Monday blog post, becoming the latest social media giant to venture into the emerging world of live-streamed e-commerce.

Key Facts

The first-ever Live Shopping stream will be hosted Sunday on Walmart’s Twitter account and will be a “30-minute variety show highlighting electronics, home goods, apparel, seasonal décor, surprise special guests and much more” hosted by singer Jason Derulo.

Twitter users will be able to make purchases via a “Shop Tab” on the live stream, while a “Shoppable Banner” will flash across the top of the screen featuring goods that are being showcased.

Twitter first announced its plans to enter the e-commerce space in March and began to pilot shoppable Twitter profiles in July.

Key Background

Twitter joins Meta, TikTok and YouTube in the effort to bring the same success live-streamed shopping has had globally, especially in China, to the U.S. Live streams allow merchants to sell to a wide audience, replicating the success of shopping television networks at a much lower cost. Coresight Research CEO Deborah Weinswig told Bloomberg, “It’s basically digitizing QVC and HSN. It’s a huge opportunity.” Coresight projects that the U.S. represents only about 1% of the live e-commerce market at this point, though American companies are angling to replicate the same success the industry has had in China in the U.S. Some two-thirds of Chinese shoppers made purchases off of live streams last year and bought $7.5 billion of products during a single 30-minute shopping period off of Taobao Live, an online shopping marketplace. Live commerce accounted for $171 billion in sales in China last year, per McKinsey.