YCD news, on December 8, Amazon announced the launch of a new feature called “Inspire”, which is similar to TikTok and allows buyers to shop through videos and pictures within the app. It is reported that this feature will be available to some US customers in early December, and will be available to all users in the US in the next few months.
Amazon has long used static product images and descriptions to create unified product listings and push products through customer preferences. However, with more than 25% of Amazon buyers staying under 3 minutes, Amazon needs to find a way to keep buyers’ attention.
With TikTok entering the field of e-commerce, social e-commerce has developed rapidly in the United States. Amazon also sees a business opportunity, with its “Inspire” feature designed to compete for consumers’ attention on social platforms such as TikTok.
The feature was reportedly tested earlier this year when Amazon was caught experimenting with a TikTok-like shopping feed within its app. In the latest release, buyers can click on the light bulb icon at the bottom of the app to access Inspire.
When using it for the first time, Amazon will pop up more than 20 content options for buyers to choose from, including makeup, skin care, pets, gardening, etc. According to these choices, Amazon Inspire will push more relevant content for buyers. In addition to video, the feature also offers photo content.
Like TikTok, Amazon buyers can double-tap anywhere on the screen to “like” content, swipe up from the bottom to see the next video, and tap buttons to comment, retweet, and more on the right side of the screen. There are product cards at the bottom of the video. These cards are all products sold on the Amazon platform. Buyers can click to add or purchase.
Amazon said that with the increase of users, Inspire understands the interests of more users by tracking the user’s participation and interaction rate, so as to more accurately promote the content that consumers like. Amazon also plans to add more shoppable features to Inspire, as well as additional in-app features and content to further improve the product.
It is reported that the shoppable content in Inspire mainly comes from influencers, brands and promoted cooperative users. At present, Amazon has invited some Amazon influencers to post on Inspire, including MaeBadiyan, PracticallyPursia, etc. Creators will be able to obtain sales commissions through the Amazon influencer program.
In addition, Amazon says that branded sellers can also publish content on Inspire, including vendors and sellers who are registered and have an active branded store.
Amazon has long attempted to drive consumer purchases by introducing forms of social shopping, including Amazon Collections in 2013, Amazon Stream in 2015, and the Instagram-like Amazon Spark. In recent years, Amazon has also launched Amazon Live to try live shopping.
However, Amazon’s attempts at social e-commerce have mostly been fruitless or mediocre, and it remains to be seen whether the launch of Inspire can break the deadlock. Amazon Inspire is currently only available in the Amazon mobile app on iOS and Android, and initially only to select customers.