Over the last few years, Amazon has been throwing s**t at the wall to see what sticks. Not everyone can be Amazon, but not everyone can be TikTok either. So, I’m not surprised to see that Amazon is shutting down Inspire, their TikTok-like feed of shoppable videos posted by influencers and brands.
As Paul Drecksler explained in a recent post, people go to TikTok for entertainment, not just with the intent to shop, and Inspire lacked the entertainment part. I believe very few people are looking for Amazon’s version of QVC, and many people tend to rely on existing social media for product discovery.
Another reason for this failure, in my opinion, is the lack of influencers on the platform. People want to see content from their favorite creators, and Amazon struggled to attract talent. They were mocked for the low rates they offered: at one point, Amazon said they would pay influencers $25 per video, with a payout cap of $12,500 for influencers submitting up to 500 videos.
Amazon is great for capturing customers at the bottom of the funnel, but when it comes to product discovery, I think there’s a lot of progress to be made. Maybe a partnership or an acquisition would work better, because I don’t see how they could turn their shopping app into a media platform that can compete with TikTok or Instagram.
