Amazon launched a new service last month called Amazon Spark. This new social network feature is an interesting Pinterest-Instagram hybrid built on top of the largest online store in the world. If you’re a part of the eCommerce industry, it’s something you’re going to want to keep an eye on.
Here’s everything you need to know about Amazon Spark, how you can get started with it, and what it means for you.
What is it?
Amazon Spark is a new eCommerce-focused social network built into the Amazon iOS app. It is not currently available on desktop, but an Android plan is reportedly planned.
Similar to Pinterest, Amazon Spark first asks you to choose categories that are interesting to you. It takes your preferences and uses them to display an Instagram-style feed of photos.
Source: TechCrunch
The real game-changer is that these images are embedded with products linked directly from Amazon. If a photo in your feed has products that can be purchased from Amazon, a shopping-bag icon will appear in the bottom right indicating how many products can be purchased.
Source: TechCrunch
All the products displayed via this icon are available to purchase directly through the Amazon platform. With a direct connection to Amazon’s inventory, the product will be available to purchase straight away at the correct price.
Amazon Spark also brings a new way to reward the most active customers who engage with products both before the purchase in photo comments and post-purchase through reviews.
Active contributors who regularly post comments or product reviews will earn the title of “Enthusiast”, an alternative to the previous “Top Reviewers” system. While you can freely browse Amazon Spark, you will have to be an Amazon Prime member if you want to contribute comments or posts on photos and become an Enthusiast.
What does this mean for eCommerce?
Amazon is Changing How We Will Shop… Again
Amazon has the scale and network to potentially bring together a new social network built around eCommerce like we haven’t seen before. The benefits of them succeeding could be huge for anyone in eCommerce.
Spark is a way for Amazon to experiment with the new ways people are shopping online. There have been a number of notable trends that have shaped eCommerce which Amazon is rolling into its new social network, including:
How we find products.
We increasingly find products by browsing sites like Pinterest and Instagram. Amazon Spark bridges the gap between finding a product and searching for it online by linking to the products directly.
Who we trust for reviews.
We don’t just rely on the recommendations of friends and family anymore. Product reviews are available everywhere and increasingly come from complete strangers online. Amazon.com has capitalized on this heavily, and now they’re looking to bring their expertise to Amazon Spark.
How products are advertised.
Influencers have become a new way for brands to reach an audience in a much more organic way. Spark uses this same approach to promote products in a natural setting, rather than in a traditional product ad.
While Instagram has become a popular place to promote products, there is still a bridge between product discovery and purchases which Spark resolves by linking directly to products on Amazon.
Despite the popularity of influencers, there is often a gray area for how they can promote products on other social networks. For the average eCommerce store, it can also be difficult to craft organic content that also converts.
Source: TechCrunch
While Instagram has slowly started to roll out shopping, with Amazon Spark, customers already expect to see product promotions in their feed, and having the Amazon products linked directly within the app means two things:
- The product will always be displayed at the correct price and inventory levels
- Amazon can learn what kind of posts have the best engagement and conversions which will help push social-media driven eCommerce forward much faster.
Enthusiasts Might become the New Influencers
By placing value on the Enthusiasts who are leaving reviews, Amazon is encouraging a new form of product recommendation to take place – one that is mixed with real product reviews as well as organic social interaction.
In the same way that there is an audience who trusts Instagram influencers due to their following, perhaps we will see a rank of Enthusiasts arise who are valued due to their high following and quality of reviews.
Amazon already runs the most popular and successful affiliate program on the web, so creating a monetization strategy for influencers based on the products they link would be fairly straightforward.
More Focus on Customer Profiles
Amazon has had customer profiles for years. While they are used heavily internally, they have been fairly underutilized and unknown outside corporate walls. With the launch of Amazon’s social networking feature, that could change dramatically.
To gain a deeper insight into what consumers really want, you have to understand what else they like – before they start their product search.
Source: TechCrunch
By having users switch to their social network, Amazon can learn what type of content correlates to sales of particular items. Our purchasing habits often relate to the type of content we like online, and vice versa.
Greater Emphasis on Photography
Amazon’s investment into this a photo-feed style app shows that they have seen the potential that photo-driven content can have on platforms like Instagram and want to start bringing that organic traffic to their own platform.
Consumers will look less towards the text content and more towards the stores that use great product photography to showcase their products.
Using a mix of product photography will also be important. While the photos on Spark will be in a more natural setting, the customer will still expect certain elements when they decide to learn more about a product.
How you can get started with Amazon Spark
You can start getting familiar with Amazon Spark today if you meet the following criteria:
- You are using an iPhone with the Amazon app installed
- You’re based in the U.S
- If you want to comment or post content, you’ll also have to be a member of Amazon Prime.
From there, it’s easy to get started:
- Select “Program and Features” from the main navigation menu
- Choose five interests that you would like to see
- Enter a name and choose your notification preferences
Where Amazon decides to take Spark is anyone’s guess, but it’s clear that the company is investing in creating more social products that will allow greater discussion, and even whole communities, to form around the products that it lists.
Right now, Amazon is focused on creating content for the Spark platform to keep it interesting for its early users. But getting involved in the platform now could prove to be a fruitful strategy as the service grows.
Will you be signing up to Amazon Spark?
If you’re already selling on Amazon, how do you think it will compete with Instagram?
Share on social:
