Everything Is Retail, as we outline in our 10 Trends for 2013: Shopping is becoming a value exchange that can play out in new and novel ways. Increasingly, almost anything can be a retail channel—even a hashtag. The Amex Sync initiative lets American Express customers sync their credit card and Twitter account, then simply tweet hashtags associated with special offers; @AmexSync sends a confirmation hashtag, the shopper tweets it back within 15 minutes to confirm, and the purchase is delivered to the card’s billing address. Initial offers have included a $25 Amex gift card for $15 and a discounted Kindle Fire. This social form of commerce isn’t a first—a year ago we wrote about Chirpify, which enables consumers to make purchases with a single “buy” response on Twitter and, now, Instagram. —Marian Berelowitz
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