Amazon introduces personalized in-app shopping experience

Amazon is adding a Tik Tok-inspired feature to its shopping app.

The e-tail giant is rolling out the feature, called Inspire, to select customers in the U.S. in early December, with availability expanding to all U.S. customers in the coming months. The in-app shopping experience is designed to provide customers with a new way to discover ideas, explore products, and seamlessly shop from content created by other customers, influencers, and brands, the company said.

When customers see an item in Inspire, they can shop for it in real time on Amazon. In a few clicks, customers can tap on a video or photo to see product details including average star rating and reviews, color and style options, and price, and then add it to their cart. 

To get started, customers open the Amazon shopping app and tap the "light bulb" icon on the bottom navigation bar. They are then prompted to choose from over 20 interests, such as makeup, pets, and gaming, to personalize their feed.

Over time, Inspire is designed to learn more about a customer’s preferences through their interests and engagement to continue tailoring their feed of shoppable content. As this new solution rolls out, Amazon plans to add more shoppable features, in-app functionality, and content, with the goal of building a more immersive shopping experience for customers.

The company is also positioning Inspire as a way for brands and influencers to grow their businesses on the Amazon mobile shopping platform.

“We invent every day to make shopping easy and fun,” said Oliver Messenger, director, Amazon Shopping. “Inspire is our new shopping experience that connects Amazon customers with shoppable content created by other customers, the latest influencers, and a wide range of brands. In just a few taps, customers can discover new products or get inspiration on what to buy, all tailored to their interests, and then shop for those items on Amazon.”

Amazon enhances video ad capabilities
Amazon is increasing the ability of brands to reach its customers via video. Its Amazon Ads division is bringing video to its self-service sponsored display advertising solution. Brands can leverage the new tool to deliver immersive video ads and measure campaign performance with standard Amazon sponsored display metrics.

Amazon Ads has also announced an expanded public beta program for its Video Builder solution, which streamlines the creation of videos for digital Amazon campaigns through ready-to-customizable templates. Video Builder enables advertisers to use available product and lifestyle images to create ad content in less than 10 minutes at no additional cost.