You Can Now Do All of Your Grocery Shopping on Twitter
Starbucks was always a favorite for java on the go, but last October, they brewed up an even quicker way to give or get a buzz with Tweet-a-Coffee, a program that let you buy a favorite #FF coffee with a little social love. Now, Amazon wants to let you use your Tweets to fill up more than just your cup — you can use specially hashtagged messages to get all of your Amazon shopping done.
Connect your Twitter account to your Amazon profile and reply to any Tweet containing an Amazon product link with the hashtag: #AmazonCart. Once you’re hooked up, it will add the item to your cart so it’s there when you’re ready to check out. It is that simple, but we’re not sold on the need to shop on Twitter.
Tweet-a-Coffee was successful for ‘bucks, which racked up over $180,000 in sales in the month or so after launching, but Amazon’s approach isn’t about sending a little surprise to a pal, it’s about doing your own shopping. So… less fun. Even with hashtags involved. Amazon is banking on the fact that you spend a lot of time on Twitter (something that is probably only really true for a few of us) and that your feed is full of folks and brands Tweeting about products on Amazon. Eh.
This idea might be more exciting on a social network more obviously linked to shopping (hello, Pinterest!) where you could curate a board through a brand, add products to it and then press “Ship.” Pinteresthas upped their Pin-to-Shop game and will nudge you if the price drops on one of your Pins, but they haven’t partnered with a brand to really synergize the experience.
#AmazonCart might find more success if brands bank on Promoted Tweets. Say a trending event like the Super Bowl is around the corner and you see a Tweet pop up about an item you desperately need to add to your party grocery list. A Tweet reply could land some Scoops and the makin’s for a mean queso bar in your cart. Same idea for the holidays: Follow some top toy makers and throw goodies in your cart for nieces and nephews. Surely if it’s a Tweet-worthy toy, it’ll be on their Xmas lists this year, right? If you’re down to try out #AmazonCart but don’t want to clog your timeline with companies, you could set up a list of favorite brands and serious social shoppers using a dashboard browser application like Tweetdeck or Hootsuite. Otherwise, we think we’ll pass and wait for our Dash to arrive.
Will you use #AmazonCart? What social network gets you to do the most shopping?
