And Here It Is: Twitter-Based Retail.

Pay-by-Tweet is now a reality, at least for Special K buyers in the UK. The cereal brand has opened The Tweet Shop, in part to punt its move into the chips market. This also represents its first foray into retail in England.

Instead of whipping out a wallet, customers are encouraged to pay for the new Special K Cracker Crisps by Tweeting a message about its low-calorie snacking merits.

The shopgirls all sport red dresses, charged with checking every Tweet before handing the crisps over.

From Special K’s Sarah Case:

The value of positive endorsements on social media sites is beyond compare so we’re excited to be the first company to literally use social currency instead of financial currency to launch this new product in our bespoke Special K shop.

This is big news for Special K and we are hoping the brand’s move into crisps and the high street will create a major buzz on and offline.

Find the Tweet Shop on Meard Street in Soho. It’ll be open from the 25th to the 28th and, in addition to its ménagerie of chips, is equipped with a “community noticeboard” for capturing social media reactions.

Photos + story via CreativeBoom. Tip via So Particular.

AmEx: Taking instant gratification to the next level.

American Express illustrates its “membership effect” with a brand-new Twitter relationship. Securely link your card to Twitter, use specific hashtags to indicate to AmEx what kind of things you’re feening for right now, and you’ll get instant discounts applied straight to your account.

As they say at the US Open, nice serve.

(Source: adverve)

Facedeals: Making Big Brother a Deal-Maker.

Watch out, Foursquare and Square. Facedeals is a facial recognition camera that syncs to your Facebook profile. 

The Facedeals camera is in beta in select Nashville, TN stores. Here’s how it works: you approach a resto you like and the camera passively recognises you. Minutes later, your phone tells you that you’ve been automatically checked in at the establishment. It’ll also send you a deal that you can immediately show the waiter to save money right that minute.

Users who want to participate must opt in to Facedeals from their Facebook accounts.

Given that everyone and their mom has Facebook, we can easily imagine Facedeals or a similar service becoming a mainstream commodity. Once that happens, it’s not unreasonable to dream up a Square competitor which will liberate you from wearing a wallet; the app could manage payment remotely by interfacing between the restaurant and Facebook, which probably already has your credit card information anyway.

Brought to you by Red Pepper Lab.

(Source: adverve)