How #AmazonCart Works On Twitter: Amazon Launches A New Way To Shop On The Social Network (AMZN)(TWTR)

Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) launched a new feature Monday that allows Twitter users to add products to their shopping cart without leaving the social network.

To be clear: The world’s largest online retailer is not selling products directly on Twitter. Instead, Amazon is asking customers to reply to any tweet containing an Amazon.com product link with the hashtag #AmazonCart. Amazon then adds the product to a user’s shopping cart on the site.

Before #AmazonCart works for Twitter users, they will have to authorize the retailer to access their accounts – which allows Amazon to read tweets from their timelines, see who they are following, follow new users on their behalf, update their profiles and post tweets. The feature is slightly different for the U.K. version of the site, where users are asked to tweet #AmazonBasket. Users then have to travel to Amazon to complete the transaction.

The #AmazonCart promotion arrives as Twitter is successfully monetizing its platform but struggling to accelerate the growth of its user base. 2014 has been rough so far for the two companies, as Amazon’s stock has declined over 20 percent this year, and Twitter's is down almost 40 percent since Jan. 1.

Follow Reporter Thomas Halleck on Twitter