Amazon pulls the plug on TikTok-like content feed

The news: Amazon sunsetted Inspire, its TikTok-like content feed meant to fuel impulse purchases, per TechCrunch.

How we got here: Amazon’s decision to eliminate the feature suggests that it failed to perform as intended. That’s unsurprising, given both the difficulty of locating Inspire—which was accessible through a lightbulb-shaped icon at the bottom of the app—and the fact that shoppers who visit Amazon generally have a specific purchase in mind.

Amazon also appeared unwilling to invest in Inspire: The company made half-hearted attempts to pay influencers to produce content, although its proposed incentive of up to $25 per video—roughly one-tenth the typical rate—earned it social media mockery from the very people it was attempting to recruit.

What’s next: Rather than continue supporting a feature few people used, Amazon is instead prioritizing its investments in AI-powered tools like its Rufus shopping assistant, as well as integrations with social platforms including TikTok itself.

• Amazon has inked deals with most social media players—including Meta, Snap, and Pinterest—to allow shoppers to purchase directly from Amazon ads on their platforms.
• The partnerships allow the company to take advantage of social media’s ability to drive impulse purchases, eliminating the need for it to have its own shoppable feed.
• “[We] know that customers look for inspiration and product recommendations in social feeds, and we’re innovating to make shopping for Amazon products more enjoyable through seamless social media integrations,” a spokesperson told TechCrunch.

Our take: Amazon’s short-lived Inspire experiment underscores the fact that shoppers already know what they want by the time they get to the retailer’s site. Rather than pushing them to change their behavior, Amazon has a much better shot of driving product discovery and impulse purchases on social platforms like TikTok, where such activity is already ingrained.

Go further: Read our latest Social Commerce Forecast.