Amazon.com on Monday announced a new partnership with Twitter in which consumers can link their Amazon.com account to their Twitter profile, allowing them to add items to their Amazon cart directly from Twitter using the hashtag #AmazonCart.
What is most interesting about the play is that Amazon has found an organic way to track and monetize their Twitter investment. Since Amazon product links were already being used in Twitter feeds, the user’s experience is truly seamless. Amazon links are simply made actionable, and without leaving the conversation. After all, what says you like an item more than telling people that you’ve added it to your cart? Now, all it takes is a simple #AmazonCart and the item is waiting for you in your cart.
For the internet Giant this means obvious sales, but it’s also a seamless link between their marketing message and valuable conversion metrics. It also has the added benefit of adding Amazon’s name to the twitter lexicon. Some critics believe that sharing purchasing habits in such a public forum could impact the overall success of #AmazonCart. However, because the final transaction happens on Amazon.com, only the user and Amazon will know what truly converts from cart to final purchase.
A key aspect to watch will be how the program impacts IMAP compliance. Many IMAP policies allow the discount of products in the cart, as long as the discount is not advertised on the product page. So in theory Amazon could tweet out a link to an IMAP compliant product page, with the Message “#Amazoncart for an additional 10% off.” Because the discount would only appear in the shopping cart, the activity should present new questions that were previously addressed in Manufacturer’s IMAP policies.
Some manufacturers may deem it a one-on-one communication, akin to an email campaign. Others will deem Amazon's tweets as a publicly advertised discount. Either way, this change in promotional strategy is bound to make waves and could have manufacturers looking to revisit their IMAP policies.
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