Amazon Inspire - A Social Shopping Feed that will be a Game-Changer for Shoppable Media

Amazon is planning to roll out a new TikTok-like shopping experience to its app for US customers. The new feature is aptly named Inspire. This will include a curated feed of short-form videos and photos to make it easier for users to discover and buy products.

The e-commerce giant has for long held onto a static product catalog and search feature. But with this new experience, it’s trying to capture the attention of consumers away from social apps like TikTok and Instagram.

The Inspire feed will be accessible to select users in early December with a tap of a light bulb icon through the Amazon shopping app. Eventually, the company plans to make it available for all US customers in the forthcoming months of 2023.

When accessing the feature for the first time, users will be prompted to choose from over 20 interests to personalize their Inspire feed. Like in TikTok, users can scroll through a vertical video feed and view engagement buttons on the right side of the screen. They also have the option to tap on small buttons at the bottom of the window with links to the product on Amazon. In addition, users can like the content with a double tap and see a red heart.

The feed will be better tailored to customers’ interests over time as the app tracks their engagement and likes. Besides, Amazon plans to add more shoppable content with additional in-app functionalities to enhance the experience.

It has also partnered with top influencers and plans to sponsor creators via the Amazon Influencer Program. In addition, brands can post to Inspire, including vendors and sellers enrolled in Brand Registry with an active Brand Store.

This is not the first time Amazon has tried to introduce social features to its shopping app. Earlier it tried to innovate on an Instagram-like feature called Amazon Spark, but it did not see much success and had to take it down. It also launched livestream shopping with Amazon Live which garnered a good response.

With the Inspire feed, it now hopes to delve further into social shopping and attempts to replicate the success of TikTok. Will this new feature lure customers and creators into its platform and take off to a flying start? We will have to wait and see.

But one thing is for certain – this move can push social commerce and shoppable media in a big way. Visual and social shopping features will become mainstream and can unlock new opportunities for brands.

In an ad ecosystem that was primarily dependent on search and PPC advertising, this could open up alternate marketing channels. There is an opportunity for brands to directly showcase their products on the feed and promote social discovery, engagement, and purchase, all in one window.

Moreover, Amazon’s jump into the social fold could also potentially pave the way for the debut of shoppable content on other e-commerce platforms. All in all, this could probably be a game-changer for shoppable ads and make content widely shoppable with a mere tap of a finger. Social commerce and shoppable media will become indispensable avenues that lead straight to shoppers’ hearts.