Social Commerce, Twitter, and the Buy Now Button

Twitter is discontinuing development of its Buy Now button. Is it giving up on Social Commerce?

Twitter announced its “Buy” buttons back in 2014 as it worked on developing its e-commerce strategy. In 2015, Twitter announced its partnerships with various retailers on its “Buy Now” initiative. Twitter was dipping its toes into the Social Commerce pool.

About a year later, Twitter announced that it was ending development of the buttons and disbanding its commerce team to focus on customer service and advertising. Buzzfeed suggested that Twitter’s backing away social commerce suggested that it was not the “low-hanging” fruit that they had hoped. People were buying on the mobile web, not social media.

The Context is Wrong

Another commenter suggested that Social Commerce via social media is not dead, it was just that the context is wrong, noting that Pinterest and Instagram as platforms, and Taylor Swift as a personality, generate significant commerce through “shoppable” media. Matthew Knight of Carat, writing for Retail-Week.com believes that:

“The blunt approach of making everything shoppable has passed. Now it’s time to learn from early experimentation and apply it intelligently. Slapping a Buy Now button onto every piece of media and communications is not clever – no one wants to be sold to constantly. But enabling purchase in the most meaningful and relevant moments, and making that experience as effortless as possible? Well, that’s new retail.”

The Social Commerce gurus at PollCart agree that enabling the purchase at the most relevant moment is critical. We also believe that enabling the interaction between a purchaser and their influencers at the time of purchase is what turns e-commerce into Social Commerce. This harvests all of the benefits to the retailer, the product, and the brands.

Directly Engage Family and Friends

PollCart gives retailers the tools to enable their customers to directly engage their family and friends in the online shopping process, providing a communal, interactive experience. It’s much like a shopping trip to the mall.

That is the power of Social Commerce.