Building a Shopping Business on Twitter Beyond Ad Revenue

Twitter has become profitable on the back of its advertising business and now wants to diversify into e-commerce. As a product manager, redesign the Twitter product so that commerce becomes part of it. The concept can borrow loosely from Facebook Marketplace or from the way Instagram helps small and medium-sized businesses sell, but it should fit Twitter. Set a goal, decide who you build for first, propose and prioritize changes, and explain how you would measure success. ```hint Compare the reference products Before listing features, contrast how Twitter's network and content differ from those of the two reference products, and use that to decide which side of the market you need to win first. ``` ### Clarifying Questions - Is the main aim revenue that does not depend on ad impressions, such as a fee on each sale, or more ad spend from sellers who start using Twitter as a storefront? - Should sellers be businesses only, small and medium businesses in particular, or can individuals also list items for one another as on a classifieds marketplace? - Must Twitter own checkout and payments, or may buyers finish their purchase on the seller's own store? - Are physical goods the focus, or are digital goods, tickets and paid content in scope as well? ### What a Strong Answer Covers - A goal for the commerce effort tied to Twitter's push to diversify beyond ads, with a stated limit on how much the core timeline experience may suffer - Recognition that commerce is two-sided, with one seller or buyer segment chosen to start and the reason for the choice - A reasoned view of which reference model suits Twitter's network and content, and where Twitter has to depart from it - Features ranked against explicit criteria such as impact on the goal, effort, trust and safety, and payments complexity - A primary commerce metric, guardrails for the existing product and ads business, and the main launch risks ### Follow-up Questions - With few sellers in the first months, how would you get the marketplace past its cold start? - How would you keep shopping posts from making the timeline feel like a catalog for people who never buy? - Would you earn money from a fee on each sale, from paid promotion of product posts, or both, and how does each choice interact with the existing ads business?