Future of Shopping in Twitter's hashtags hands?

It looks like Twitter is on to something big and there is no stopping it.  Today American Express announced that shoppers will be able to shop using just the Hashtag for purchases.  This is indeed a breaking news and a big boost to Twitter ahead of its IPO.

The future of Shopping seems be heading for a change.  You will no longer have to use cash or card for your purchases.  Simply type the hashtag and the shopping will be done or that's what American Express believes.  

Credit card company American Express today announced a partnership with Twitter that allows cardholders to purchase items by simply typing in a hashtag. For those unfamiliar with Twitter, the hashtag is a word or phrase preceded by the "#" symbol.  American Express members have to register with them to sync their accounts to Twitter.

The procedure of this is when a user sees an item they want to purchase, they type a special hashtag. For example, American Express is offering a $25 gift card for $15 users can snag by posting the hashtag #BuyAmexGiftCard25.

Twitter users then check the Mentions tab for replies from @AmexSync that include a confirmation hashtag. Users have 15 minutes to tweet the confirmation, then their item will be shipped to the billing address tied to their credit card.

Other items American Express will offer through this service include an Amazon Kindle Fire HD, a Sony Action Cam and an Xbox 360 4GB video game console.

This actually makes sense to Twitter, keen on expanding it e-commerce and seek new revenue models in the view of its forthcoming IPO.  However its success is very questionable given the security lapses Twitter has of late.  Further this is only useful in USA as of now so keep your fingers crossed and your hashtags ready.

Please give your comments on this new avenue of shopping.

Vijay Prabhu