Twitter begins testing 'Shops' feature to grow e-commerce

Twitter will experiment with allowing companies to showcase up to 50 products for sale on their profiles, the company said on Wednesday, part of an effort to gain a piece of the $45 billion US market for so-called social commerce.

Facebook and Instagram, which are owned by Meta Platforms Inc(FB.O), have been leaders in social commerce, enabling merchants to set up virtual shops and sell products.

The beta test for Twitter Shops will be available for select businesses in the United States and will be visible to people using the Twitter iPhone app, the company said.

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US wireless carrier Verizon(VZ.N), one of the test partners, featured iPhone cases and wireless chargers in its Twitter shop on Wednesday.

After viewing the product on social networking website, users are redirected to the merchant’s website for checkout.

The experiment expands on a previous feature the platform began testing last year allowing brands to showcase up to five products at the top of their Twitter profiles.

The San Francisco-based company is also experimenting with live-streamed shopping, which lets people purchase clothing, accessories and other items while watching live videos from the brand about the products.