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A portrait of the Twitter logo in Ventura, California December 21, 2013. Reuters/Eric Thayer

Twitter's acquisition of CardSpring has taken it very close to its goal of launching its own e-commerce platform, reports The Wall street Journal. Though the cost of acquisition is not available the deal is all set to bring real-time shopping to Twitter with the shopper redeeming them offline at a later date.

Deal From a Tweet

According to Tech Crunch, Twitter is offering users the ability to get deals and discounts to their online shopping cart with a simple Tweet. Twitter will use CardSpring to enable card-linked offers. A discount offered in a tweet from a merchant can be asked to enter into the credit card number.

Later on when a purchase is made in online or offline format, CardSpring would recognize the card number and adjust the discount. The merchant will also be updated the analytics of the offer. This kind of online-to-offline promotions will make Twitter more relevant to local businesses to drive their brick-and-mortar sales.

Smart Debit Cards

CardSpring has been a specialist in making debit and credit cards turn smarter. They allow users to link credit-card accounts to merchants deals in sales, loyalty programs and discount coupons in such a way the deals are redeemed when the card is swiped.

Post acquisition with Twitter, CardSpring will allow retailers to advertise the upcoming sales. This allows coupons users to enter credit-card information in a way that discounts can be used later at the store. CardSpring founded in 2011 had investors Accel Partners and Greylock as partners.

Analytics to clients

CardSpring also offers analytics to clients by showing how much online marketing leads turn into offline purchases. It is a valuable tool for Twitter to show advertisers advertising on Twitter influences consumer behavior.

Twitter Steps in Commerce

Twitter has been showing great interest in e-commerce for long. The hiring of former Nathan Hubbard, former CEO of Ticketmaster was an indication of it.

The partnership of Twitter with Starbucks and American Express on many campaigns and teaming up with Amazon to add Amazon products via Twitter were also part of this strategy.

Shop Now Button

Twitter has also started testing a shop now button on its Ads to allow users to shop from Twitter. With the acquisition, Twitter's e-commerce dream is really getting bigger.