Amazon Inspire app is a game changer in the social eCommerce space

Have you met Amazon (in Barney’s voice)?

Well, you better get ready as the retail giant has unleashed the next big thing in eCommerce – Inspire, a new way to explore and shop products on Amazon.

What is Amazon Inspire? And why did I call it ‘the next big thing in the eCommerce space?’

Keep reading as we’re about to step into the realm of interactive shopping.

Let’s dive in.

What is Amazon Inspire?

Inspire is Amazon’s answer to the ever-growing popularity of video shopping – a new way to explore and shop products available on Amazon. It’s a new in-app TikTok-like shopping feed that presents personalized shoppable photos and videos based on the users’ interests and engagement.

The best part? It’s as engaging as scrolling your TikTok feed with the added bonus of being able to shop the products you see.

You may be wondering what Amazon’s motive behind creating a TikTok-like shopping experience is. There’s not one but many.

First is the rising popularity of interactive shopping. People love consuming videos. Add the element of video shopping to it and you’ll see customers going on a credit-card swiping spree. According to Shopify’s Commerce Trends 2023 report, video shopping can lower barriers to conversion. Some companies have reported conversion rates of around 30%.

Secondly, TikTok is not a thing of the future anymore. It’s no longer an experimental play. Thousands of Amazon third-party sellers/brands globally spend millions of dollars to advertise their products on TikTok. By running TikTok ads, they’re driving traffic from TikTok to their Amazon listings.

Amazon knows this and wants to draw its consumers’ attention from TikTok or other third-party social applications that support vertical videos.

With Inspire, Amazon is not only planning to deliver an interactive and immersive shopping experience but also capture the advertising revenue of platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and others that support vertical videos.

According to Amazon’s Director of Shopping Oliver Messenger in his interview, “Short form video is a useful medium to help people discover and understand products. Video-based content genuinely helps customers dive deep into the product and understand it more.”

Here’s a LinkedIn post from Oliver on the same –

A few key benefits of Amazon Inspire for third-party sellers are:

1. Your customers will see your products in use (only applicable for video content). If they see your product in action, they’ll have an enhanced understanding; thereby empowering them to make informed purchasing decisions. This will result in lesser returns and replacement requests.
2. You’re showing your customers that you’re willing to display your products in use; thereby helping you build trust.
3. People love consuming vertical videos – whether they’re TikTok videos or Instagram Reels. And you’re adding the element of interactivity to it, giving them an immersive shopping experience.

And more!

As of this writing (I wrote about this in December), Amazon has rolled out this new feature to a select few customers based in the US. However, if you’re reading this piece in May or June, Amazon Inspire is probably available to use by everyone based in the US.

NOTE – Inspire is not a standalone mobile application launched by Amazon. Instead, it’s an in-app feature available on the Amazon Shopping mobile application. Also, I’d like to highlight that this feature is not available on Desktop (as of this writing) and is only available on the mobile application.

Wondering how Inspire works?

Allow me to explain

How Does Amazon Inspire Work?

Using Amazon Inspire is a cakewalk, considering you’re based in the US and you have access to Amazon Inspire.

How to figure out if you have access?

If you have access to Amazon Inspire, you’ll see a light bulb icon in the bottom navigation bar of the Amazon Shopping mobile application. Upon tapping on it, customers will be asked to select their favorite interests; considering it’s their first time using Amazon Inspire like this –

From here, customers can learn more about the products, like them, and add them directly to their cart, resulting in a lightning-fast checkout experience, which is beneficial both for sellers and buyers.

If you’re an Amazon third-party seller, you obviously don’t want to miss out on the action. You probably want your products to be displayed in your audience’s Inspire feed.

Wondering what the best way to do that is?

Let’s find out.

How to Create Content for Amazon Inspire

• Encourage your customers – Amazon has stated that customer reviews with photos or videos will appear in people’s Inspire feed. So, Amazon third-party sellers should encourage their customers to add photos and videos to their reviews.
• Collaborate with Amazon influencers – Amazon’s influencer program is one of a kind. It allows influencers to create their dedicated Amazon storefronts – which they can drive their traffic towards from different sources. Brands can partner with Amazon influencers and ask them to create photos and videos to promote their Amazon product. You can also use influencer platforms like Stack Influence to automate your influencer collaborations and get Amazon Inspire posts at scale.
• Do it yourself – Another way is to create content for the Amazon Posts program. What’s that? Brands can use this program to share product-related posts similar to how we do it on social media platforms. If you’re a brand-registered seller or vendor your qualifying posts on Amazon Brands Posts will appear in Amazon Inspire.

If you’re planning to work with Amazon influencers yet don’t know how to find the right ones, we recommend tapping into Amazon live to discover influencers in your niche.

Looking for fitness Amazon influencers? Or health and wellness ones? Just click here to begin your search. Also, we’ve put together a list of the top 10 Amazon influencers you can work with to give you a head start. You may find it here.

OR!

We Can Help You!

We work with Amazon influencers all the time. In fact, we’ve helped hundreds of Amazon third-party sellers run results-driven influencer marketing campaigns. Brands that work with us own all the rights to the content. No restrictions!

Learn more about our process here.

Other Interesting Reads –

• The Top 3 Managed Micro-Influencer Platforms in 2023
• Your Go-To Amazon Influencers Guide
• Learn Why You Should Run Micro-Influencer Marketing Campaigns
• The Top Amazon Aggregators are Raising Millions of Dollars
• What is Walmart Influencer Marketing?