Two Internet colossals have joined forces to make online acquisitions easier. The name is #AmazonCart and it is the newest offer in the e-commerce sector that has been created by Amazon and Twitter. It takes three simple steps to start using it: for those who have a Twitter account all it takes is a respond with the hashtag #AmazonCart to any tweet containing a link to an Amazon product and the product in question will be automatically added to one’s Amazon cart.
The partnership that was announced on Monday may mark the beginning of a trend in the e-commerce sector and set the rules for social commerce. #AmazonCart permits acquisitions on Amazon via Twitter without ever having to leave the social network.
This potentially represents a new business model for Twitter. The microblog has long been searching for a way to appraise its active users. For Amazon the opportunity is that of reinforcing its sales by adding more acquisition possibilities for its users. As well, Twitter represents a tried and true search channel for products that can be easily associated with recommendations and descriptions from artists, experts, brands, or even friends. As well, official sources from Amazon have specified that the social network will not earn anything from the transactions made with Amazon, so unless there are further agreements made, all of the earnings will go straight to Amazon. Clients who have already linked their accounts to Twitter and Amazon will receive a tweet in response to their interests in a product from @MyAmazon and a confirmation email with the details of the product that they have added to their cart. Clients who tweet #AmazonCart but are not yet registered will receive an email offering the possibility to open an account.
The only risk of making acquisitions on #AmazonCart could be precisely the public and open nature of the social media. Acquisition preferences and choices made via Twitter will also be automatically made public with a tweet. It could also cause a lot of brands to send tweets with links in order to attract users to Amazon.
The service is currently available in the U.S. and in the UK with the hashtag #AmazonBasket.
