"Tweet-mart"... Why is there no twitter marketplace??

I consider myself a semi-professional tweeter (although I'm keeping my general status as "amateur" for my eligibility in the Olympics), and think I'm pretty well versed in what is available with and/or the capabilities of Twitter; however, one thing I haven't been privy to is a Twitter "marketplace". I expected at this point to encounter a somewhat well organized function of twitter that allows retailers to post links to product information or even products themselves for sale, and be readily available for consumers to access.

I can just see tweeters signing up and following their favorite online retailer or have their ebay/amazon accounts linked to Twitter, so that they would get tweets throughout the day of sales and discounts available that week, that day, or even a more impact-full call to action of "for the next two hours, the price is 50% off" type of special.

I truly hope companies are already doing this, because at this point in the lifespan of Twitter, they should be well ahead of me in their strategic business planning.

As I was typing this, I ventured to see what retailers like Wal-Mart were doing with Twitter, and to my surprise, there was no official corporate Wal-Mart twitter account. Now there was an @walmartdeals, but it looked as if it was an independant feed, and it seemed pretty unorganized to me. One post was about the new "The Day the Earth Stood Still" DVD, and the one prior to
that referred to their Safari Double Jogging Stroller. These two products don't seem to be,
or shouldn't necessarily be marketed toward the same consumer demographic, so why is Wal-Mart, or @walmartdeals, using the same feed to advertise both. I see that as nothing but clutter in their marketing efforts. If I followed @walmartdeals, I would start to feel as though I am starting to get "spam" feeds when I'd receive tweets for a sale on digital cameras one minute, and posts for a line of baby clothes the next.

What if Wal-Mart were to create several Twitter feeds that were more specific to certain product categories; organize their feeds the way they do their stores; have separate feeds for Home/Garden, Electronics/Entertainment, etc. That way, tweeters could receive posts specific to their needs.

Other accounts I was surprised I didn't see were grocery stores, such as Publix or Winn Dixie. What better way to drive traffic to your store then to send Twitter posts to followers with current specials and sales on products you can offer for that day or week. This would be the perfect opportunity to use specials like, "All produce 25% off until 7pm". Use that sense of urgency, so important in sales, to get people to go to your store for something they might not need right now, but don't want to feel like they are passing up a great deal on it.

To take this to another level, why aren't restaurants taking advantage of Twitter; sending out posts mid-morning advertising lunch specials, and sending links to coupons towards the end of the workday to come in for dinner. I'd follow TGIFridays and Outback Steakhouse twitter accounts in a second if I knew I'd get some good deals for a couple weekday lunches or dinners.

The good thing about Twitter is that it's selective, it's personalized. You don't receive "spam" like you do with email. You choose what updates and news you want to receive, without having to sort through all that static of things you don't want or need. Here's the chance to hit your target market in a way they haven't been reached before, with a type of filter that eliminates all the clutter and static of other mediums.

I'm not saying that some companies don't already do this, but there doesn't seem to be a well organized or even well publicized method of using Twitter as a medium for actual sales. I'd imagine that the first company to fully utilize the ability of Twitter to reach the masses will come out in a pretty good position.