What you need to know:

• Twitter is trialling a Shopping Module for online businesses that allows users to buy products directly within Twitter.
• This pilot is a way to “explore how shoppable profiles can create a pathway from talking about and discovering products on Twitter to actually purchasing them”, Twitter says.

Twitter has started trialling an e-commerce feature that allows users buy from retailers directly through the platform.

Known as Twitter Shopping, the company announced a US-only pilot for a small group of online stores, including gaming retailer Game Stop and travel brand Arden Cove.

Online retailers will be able to display their products on a module underneath their profile information. Users can click on a product and purchase through the in-app browser – without having to leave Twitter.

“[This feature] allows us to explore how shoppable profiles can create a pathway from talking about and discovering products on Twitter to actually purchasing them,” Bruce Falck, Revenue Product Lead at Twitter, wrote.

The pilot will be for around 12 brands in total in the US and will be an option for businesses with Professional Profiles, a tool that allows publishers, organisations and businesses to display specific information about themselves on their profile.