Shopify launches Twitter shopping features that fall short of other social commerce offerings

By MixDex Article may include affiliate links

Shopify users will be able to showcase up to 50 products for sale in their online store on their Twitter profiles thanks to a new feature formerly announced June 22, 2022.

The feature has been being tested with a limited number of users and is expected to roll out widely starting June 22.

Screenshots of the feature show the ability to add a carousel-like interface or “view shop” button near the top of a Twitter profile as well as a standalone screen showing products for sale in a grid-like layout.

Users see an image, product name and price within Twitter and then tap to be taken to the Shopify-hosted store for more details and to check out.

The offering falls short, however, of rival social media network ecommerce integrations with Shopify and other platforms, which often let the user complete a purchase without leaving the app or site, which can spike sales thanks to a familiar interface and prefilled contact and payment information.

If applicable, Twitter users can use one of Shopify’s accelerated checkout options, including its own Shop Pay, that can pre-fill this type of information.

In many ways, the Twitter-Shopify integration is essentially just a new and more prominent way to spotlight that an account sells online since any user can post a product name, price and link to a product detail page in the form of a regular tweet. It also does have the advantage of gathering together all products in a single view, something that’s not possible with standard tweets.

Some social media platforms also offer standalone ecommerce tools that let users build listings of items for sale without any third-party platform such as Shopify required.

Shopify and Twitter will work together to sync product information so that users do not have to manually update information, such as price changes, in two locations.

There is no charge beyond Shopify’s existing fees to use the feature.

The two companies would not disclose the specifics of the partnership’s financials, such as if Twitter gets a cut of sales it sends to store owners or if Shopify is paying for the privilege of embedding shopping links.