Twitter launches live shopping with Walmart

Twitter is jumping on the live shopping bandwagon. The social media platform will run its first live shopping test next week in collaboration with Walmart. In addition to the live stream pilot, Twitter will roll out its Shop module to more U.S. merchants in the coming weeks, as well as a Twitter shopping manager to help merchants onboard and manage products. The Walmart live shopping event will be hosted by singer Jason Derulo, who will highlight Walmart electronics, home goods, apparel, and seasonal decor during a 30-minute show. The event will take place on Sunday, Nov. 28 at 7 p.m. ET across all of Walmart’s social media channels and marks the start of Walmart’s Cyber Week. The live stream will let users test out Twitter’s latest shopping experience. Viewers can check out the “Shop” tab, and toggle back and forth between products and the live stream. They’ll also be able to make purchases on Walmart’s website in-app while the live stream is still going. "We are honored to have Walmart onboard as the first-ever brand to host a Live Shopping event on Twitter,” Sarah Personette, Twitter’s Chief Customer Officer, said in a statement. “Walmart is renowned for bringing customers an immersive look into their products and we are excited to bring this experience onto Twitter with them, while helping them reach their business objectives.” See Ad Age's 2021 Social Commerce Guide here. Twitter is the latest social media platform to step up its social commerce products this year. Competition for these features has been fierce leading up to the holidays, with brands realizing that consumers are happy to be dropped into a shoppable moment while scrolling through their feeds. In July, Twitter rolled out its Shop module, a dedicated space at the top of a business profile where brands can showcase their products. Users can swipe through a carousel of products and checkout through an in-app browser. Other platforms also have live shopping, such as Pinterest TV, Instagram Live, and Facebook Live. This is not Walmart’s first time testing live stream shopping. In December 2020, Walmart was the first brand to pilot TikTok’s live shopping experience. Walmart hosted another TikTok live shopping event in March 2021. The retailer also launched Walmart Live earlier this year and has partnered with its influencers for live shopping videos on YouTube. “Discovery and inspiration can happen anywhere, and we want to make sure we are meeting our customers where they are,” Walmart Chief Marketing Officer William White wrote in a blog post. “The success of these livestream events and growth of our business are telling us that we’re headed down the right path.” Walmart is also hosting numerous other shoppable livestream events this holiday season, with plans for more than 30 of them across platforms including BuyWith, BuzzFeed, Facebook, IGN, TalkShopLive, Tasty, Twitter and YouTube.

Twitter launches live shopping with Walmart

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