Amex extends Twitter Sync feature allowing account holders to pay-by-Tweet
American Express has furthered its Twitter sync feature to allow Amex customers who have synced their account information with Twitter to pay for products by Tweeting purchase hashtags.
Amex card holders with synced cards can buy American Express gift cards and products from Amazon, Sony, Xbox 360 and Urban Zen via their Twitter accounts. The move follows Amex’s Card Sync launch last March which allowed couponless saving to be delivered to card holders who Tweeted special offer hashtags for merchants.
Payments are made by Tweeting a purchase hashtag and then re-Tweeting the confirmation Tweet from Amex within 15 minutes of receiving it. The product will then be shipped to the account billing address synced with Twitter, with the payment withdrawn from the synced Amex account.
“Based on the initial success of Amex Sync for offers, we know there is significant power in combining our assets with Twitter’s platform to bring value to card members and merchants,” said Leslie Berland, senior vice president of digital partnerships and development at American Express.
“Now, we’re leveraging our unique technology and closed-loop network to introduce a seamless solution that redefines what’s possible in the world of social commerce.”
Limited to participating merchants and products in the US for now, $25 American Express gift cards can be purchased with a synced Amex card from today for $15 using the hashtag #BuyAmexGiftCard25. The remaining catalogue of products go on sale from tomorrow (Wednesday 13 February) when a full list of product hashtags will be released and favourited on the @AmericanExpress Twitter feed.
Here in the UK, Red Ant CEO Dan Mortimer commented: “Shortening the payment cycle for impulse purchases through social is certainly an interesting field and should definitely be followed closely by certain retailers. The timing of the announcement by Amex, one week after Twitter is hacked and loses 250,000 passwords is certainly very brave as is the assumption that consumers want to make all of their purchases public and traceable. I’d hope that Amex are at least using a DM for their follow up message.”