In December 2022, Amazon Inspire started to roll out in the US on mobile apps, as a new TikTok-esque feature mixed with a touch of Instagram, combining short videos and images which were instantly shoppable. Now it appears that they are scrapping the feature.
This is a strange time to roll back bearing in mind the still uncertain future of TikTok in the US, which is currently on a 75 day reprieve which the new President Trump tries to broker a deal to satisfy owners Bytedance that pacifies Congress who claim undue Chinese influence of the platform.
However it appears that the TikTok-esque Amazon Inspire didn’t gain traction with buyers and creators weren’t exactly enamoured with the compensation for video creation – reportedly offering $12,500 for 500 videos or $25 each – they can earn more on other platforms for the same amount of work.
Perhaps the ultimate reason behind the failure of this feature has little to do with creators and more to do with how people shop on Amazon – it’s not a Pinterest where you go to create collections or a TikTok where you go for serendipitous shopping, for me at least when I go to Amazon I know what I want and I’m on Amazon because I want it fast. Amazon, for me, isn’t an inspiring platform, it’s a utilitarian shopping experience and I know what I want and I want it fast.
