New feature “Inspire”
Amazon wants to reach young customers – and is now copying Tiktok
Tiktok ties many users to their smartphones – apparently Amazon now wants that too (symbol image)
© Wiphop Sathawirawong / Getty Images
No social network has been as successful as quickly as Tiktok. Competitors like Meta are no longer trying to copy this success. But also companies from completely different industries.
And another clip. Well, one more time – and hours have already passed: There is probably no app that captivates users as quickly as Tiktok – and given the time you’ve already spent on Instagram and Co., that’s saying something. The competition is desperately trying to copy the recipe for success. And Amazon is also currently testing a project with which the online retail giant wants to cut its slice of the Tiktok cake.
The “Inspire” baptized feature is intended to create a usage feeling in the Amazon app like the successful short video app, reports the “Wall Street Journal”. Instead of funny clips, singing interludes and short tutorials, customers should be able to see product videos and images in the feed called “For you”. As with Tiktok, you can like the clips, share them with others – or buy the products right away. Most of the content on Inspire is still product photos, but there are also a few videos.
Superiority Tiktok
The project is currently in an internal test phase, the Israeli AI company Watchful Technologies told the “Journal”. Amazon itself expressed reservations to the newspaper, emphasizing “constantly testing new functions to make customers’ lives a little easier.” In fact, there are always reports of new functions, but by no means all of them end up with end users. It remains to be seen whether it will be similar with Inspire.
It is not surprising that Amazon is also trying to jump on the Tiktok bandwagon. The effect of the video service on the industry is gigantic. If you follow the quarterly reports of the industry, the network was mentioned in almost every investor conversation of the big internet companies as a big competitor and a possible reason for a decline in sales.
In order to be able to keep up with the new top dog, the competitors are trying to copy the successful model. Instagram and Facebook are being optimized more and more by the parent company for their reel feature, the implementation of which is hardly overtly inspired by Tiktok. Youtube and Twitter also rely on short videos that follow each other in quick succession, at least not to lose even more users.
Advertising feed instead of cat videos
Whether the concept also works for a shopping platform is another matter. After all, Tiktok and the imitators are all about keeping users’ attention for advertising revenue. And not directly about product sales. Whatchful’s testers see potential, after all. Amazon’s offering could become “the same kind of attractive social media browsing,” an employee told the Journal. “It’s a new way of using social experiences in the app.”
Amazon has already taken the first steps in this direction. There are already videos in online department stores in which influencers test selected products on offer. In addition, Internet personalities can set up their own subpages in cooperation with the group, where they can place recommended products and receive a share of the sale. The fact that users actually spend as much time browsing the product as they do with cat videos and the like still seems very optimistic at the moment.
Source:Wall Street Journal