It seems that Amazon is also taking inspiration from TikTok to further grow the ecommerce business: according to what the Wall Street Journal, the colossus founded by Jeff Bezos would be testing a sort of vertical scrolling feed integrated into its main app, consisting of short videos and photos to be consumed one after the other. Of course, each content is shopping themed, and includes links to the purchase of the most disparate products available on the platform.
The functionality, which for now is called Inspire, was discovered by Watchful, an Israeli company operating in the field of artificial intelligence. As you can see from the screenshots below, it can be reached by pressing a square or diamond shaped button in the bottom navigation bar. Of course it is not certain that at its official debut (admitted and not allowed to ever occur) this aspect or positioning will be confirmed.
It is certainly not the first time that someone has been inspired by TikTok, which is the social network with the highest growth rate and which has been able to make inroads especially among the youngest; indeed, every platform now offers a way to produce and consume short videos, whether they are called Reels or Shorts. And it is not even the first time that Amazon is inspired by the world of social networks to develop new sales strategies. Already a few years ago it launched Posts, which is extremely similar in its dynamics of operation to Instagram.
Furthermore, it should be noted that video shopping tips are a very popular content category on TikTok: according to TechCrunch, the hashtag #amazonfinds has 25.6 billion viewsand there are some creators who have gained millions of followers by specializing on them alone.
In short, the potential is all there, but it remains to be seen whether Amazon itself is the right channel to exploit it. It could be argued that these initiatives work best if they come from independent sources – which are, at least supposedly, more authentic and honest in recommending products without thinking. It is true that ultimately they are a way to generate income also for outsiders, thanks to the system of commissions and links with referrals.
Amazon responded to requests for comments with a rather generic phrase, along the lines of “we are always looking for new solutions to simplify the lives of our customers”, which at least is not a dry denial, if we want to see it with a little of optimism. We therefore have no information on any plans to launch the feature.
