The News: Amazon announced the launch of “Inspire,” a TikTok-esque shopping feed that allows brands, customers, and influencers to post videos and photos that highlight their favorite items. Shoppers will be able to find items and purchase them without ever leaving the Amazon site. Read more about the launch from TechCrunch.
Amazon Launches Inspire, New Shopping Feed Inspired by TikTok
Analyst Take: There’s nothing like the addictive power of social media, and Amazon is hoping the same addictive quality that leads users to spend hours on TikTok will lead them to spend time — and money — on Amazon. At the very least, Amazon wants to pull some market share from TikTok’s own e-commerce platform, TikTok shop.
It’s clear that TikTok has the ability to make almost anything viral — people, products, and brands alike. In that sense, it’s obvious why Amazon would look to TikTok for inspiration. Amazon itself has never been shy about borrowing ideas from social media. It’s Interesting Finds feature was modeled after Pinterest, and its Spark feature was based on Instagram.
Amazon Influencers and The Power of AI
Like most things Amazon, content will be curated and personalized for individual users. When first launching the app, shoppers will be prompted to selected 20 interests they’d prefer to see in their feed. This could include things like gaming, clothes, hiking gear, makeup or food items. AI will help Inspire better gauge consumer interests based on previous likes and purchases. Interactive features allow users to “like” certain content and navigate directly to purchase a featured item by clicking a “See all details” button in the content window.
Amazon will continue the work they already do with influencers, allowing them to curate and create content for Inspire. As someone who routinely sees Amazon influencer content in other social media apps, I think this will be an easy and successful program for Amazon.
Tapping into the Power of Social Could be Good for Earnings
This is a smart move for Amazon. TikTok’s endless scrolling feature has the ability to keep users on the app for hours. If Amazon can successfully replicate that, users will spend more time in Amazon’s app and potentially more money. This will be a win for Amazon’s retail business, which according to their latest earnings report in October, has shown a slight drop in sales year to date.
In that same earnings report, Amazon also prepped investors for a potentially sluggish holiday shopping season, likely due in part to the recession. I’m bullish about this new feature, which has already started rolling out to some users. I think Amazon Inspire has the power to be very successful for the e-commerce giant, and it’s something I will be watching very closely in the future.
Disclosure: Futurum Research is a research and advisory firm that engages or has engaged in research, analysis, and advisory services with many technology companies, including those mentioned in this article. The author does not hold any equity positions with any company mentioned in this article.
Analysis and opinions expressed herein are specific to the analyst individually and data and other information that might have been provided for validation, not those of Futurum Research as a whole.
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Author Information
Daniel is the CEO of The Futurum Group. Living his life at the intersection of people and technology, Daniel works with the world’s largest technology brands exploring Digital Transformation and how it is influencing the enterprise.
From the leading edge of AI to global technology policy, Daniel makes the connections between business, people and tech that are required for companies to benefit most from their technology investments. Daniel is a top 5 globally ranked industry analyst and his ideas are regularly cited or shared in television appearances by CNBC, Bloomberg, Wall Street Journal and hundreds of other sites around the world.
A 7x Best-Selling Author including his most recent book “Human/Machine.” Daniel is also a Forbes and MarketWatch (Dow Jones) contributor.
An MBA and Former Graduate Adjunct Faculty, Daniel is an Austin Texas transplant after 40 years in Chicago. His speaking takes him around the world each year as he shares his vision of the role technology will play in our future.
