Amazon introduces an interesting functionality for Twitter buyers: AmazonCart

Amazon unveiled a very interesting feature that speeds up the process of buying from Amazon links shared on Twitter by using a hashtag; it’s called #AmazonCart (USA) / #AmazonBasket(UK).

It’s an interesting concept that benefits Amazon customers, store owners, and affiliate marketers, as it speeds up the process of the transaction by sending the product directly to the buyer’s cart. This is how it works:

When someone tweets an Amazon.com product link, Twitter users who have connected their accounts to Amazon will be able to add the product directly to their Amazon.com Shopping Carts simply by replying to the tweet and adding “#AmazonCart.” They will receive a reply tweet confirming their action, and they can complete checkout on Amazon.com at their convenience. #AmazonCart is currently only available in the US (for Amazon.com links)and as #AmazonBasket in the UK (for Amazon.co.uk links).

Because the product is sent straight to the customer’s cart/basket, in theory there’s no chance for affiliates to end up leading sales without being credited for them, as it commonly happens when they are added to a wishlist.

While it is a very smart move for Amazon, there is also potential for abuse. On one hand, it saves potential customers time by not having to navigate through a sea of favorite tweets just to look for something they really wanted to buy, but didn’t want to leave Twitter just to add it to their wishlist. They can also decide if they want to finalize the purchase, or remove the product from their cart. On the other hand, there’s a chance of flooding twitter with “buy mah stuffz plz” links to Amazon.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out, who knows, it might eventually lead to being able to do the same thing on Facebook and other social media sites that use hashtags.