Elain Brown Tech 06.09.2022 01:Jun AM EDT

Twitter is Testing a New Shopping Feature That Alerts You of Upcoming Product Drops

Twitter is testing a new feature called Product Drops.

As recently announced, the social media company is expanding its shopping features with the newly created Product Drops.

According to Twitter, this brand-new shopping option gives customers the ability to keep ahead of the launches that are most relevant to them and gives retailers an additional opportunity to engage customers in conversations about significant product releases.

Twitter Product Drops

Twitter releases Product Drops. The newest addition to the company's array of features is the Twitter Shopping family.

This feature will allow brands that are launching product drops will have the ability to tweet links to impending launches, and customers will have the option to sign up for in-app notifications so that they are alerted of the launch before it occurs.

When a brand tweets about an impending launch using Product Drops, customers will notice a "Remind me" button at the bottom of the tweet. This button will allow users to be reminded of the product launch with just one press.

As described by The Verge, during the release day, users will receive an in-app notification in their Notifications tab fifteen minutes before and at the time of the drop. This will allow them to be among the first customers to shop on the brand's website and successfully purchase the items ahead of other competing customers.

However, this feature is not designed for the transaction to be done within Twitter.

Instead, when users click on the reminder notification, it will lead them to an option that will state "Shop on Website," and that button will allow them to purchase the item on the brand's website.

When users click the "Remind me" button, they will be presented with a brief product description. When brands tweet about their upcoming releases, users will be able to open a full-screen Product Details Page.

Users will be able to see the product information, such as price, images, description, and a clickable hashtag feature that will highlight what other people are saying about it on Twitter.

According to Twitter, at this time, Product Drops can only be viewed and interacted with by consumers located in the United States who conduct their Twitter activity on an iOS device using the English language.

In addition, the company also stated that they are in collaboration with a limited number of brands such as the Lego Group, Union Los Angeles, Home Depot, Fossil x Jeff Staple, and Dior.

Twitter Shopping

According to Engadget, Twitter is releasing this feature with the intent of leveraging the way Twitter is already used to build anticipation for limited-edition products or things that are particularly highly demanded.

Although the social media company has stated that it views the field of e-commerce as a potential opportunity, Twitter has been rather slow in incorporating features that are related to e-commerce into its platform when compared to the majority of its competitors.

When comparing Twitter to Meta's Facebook and Instagram, the latter social media platform has its own e-commerce features such as the Facebook Marketplace, and Instagram has also been popular for its shopping terms called "instacarting."

Although the company is not that far behind, Twitter has already released features like Twitter Shops, Live Shopping, and Shop Spotlight.

With the announcement of this testing feature, the company also stated that as they refine these new services and bring them to more brands and customers, Twitter will provide additional information about their progress and public roll out in the coming months.