Twitter Launches New Shopping Feature for ‘Product Drops’

Twitter launched the “the newest member of the Twitter Shopping family” on Wednesday called Product Drops. Merchants can use it to “engage shoppers around big product moments,” the company explained in its announcement.

When shoppers read on Twitter about a new collection a brand is launching, they can lose track of it by the time the product actually drops, the company explained. Now Twitter is enabling brands to invite fans to opt in to be reminded on the date the product becomes available.

Twitter explained how it works:

“With Product Drops, when a merchant Tweets about an upcoming launch, you’ll see a “Remind me” button at the bottom of the Tweet. With one tap, you can request to be reminded of the Drop. On launch day, you’ll get an in-app notification in your Notifications tab 15 minutes before and at the time of the drop, so you can be among the first to shop on the merchant’s website and (hopefully) beat out other shoppers. When you click on the notification, you’ll see a “Shop on website” button to purchase the item on the merchant’s website.”

For now, the feature is limited to certain brands, including @Dior, @Fossil x @JeffStaple, @HomeDepot, @LEGO_Group, and @unionlosangeles.

It’s also limited to shoppers in the US who use Twitter in English on iOS devices.

So what do shoppers see when you click on a merchant’s Tweet through the new feature? “You’ll open the Product Details Page – a full-screen space where you can see all the information you need to make informed and confident purchase decisions. This includes the price, pictures, a description of the product, and a clickable hashtag that will show you what other shoppers on Twitter are saying about the product.”

Details can be found on this Twitter blog post.

Ina Steiner

Ina Steiner is co-founder and Editor of EcommerceBytes and has been reporting on ecommerce since 1999. She's a widely cited authority on marketplace selling and is author of "Turn eBay Data Into Dollars" (McGraw-Hill 2006). Her blog was featured in the book, "Blogging Heroes" (Wiley 2008). She is a member of the Online News Association (Sep 2005 - present) and Investigative Reporters and Editors (Mar 2006 - present). Follow her on Twitter at @ecommercebytes and send news tips to ina@ecommercebytes.com. See disclosure at EcommerceBytes.com/disclosure/.