Amazon shut down Inspire, a TikTok-style shopping feed inside its mobile app that the company launched in 2022. To be honest, Inspire was doomed from the start.
? Back in December 2022 I wrote:
"A big difference though between Inspire and those other apps is that users are gravitating towards TikTok and IG for all sorts of entertainment — not just shopping — and then discovering products as part of the overall experience. Whereas Inspire is a predominantly product-based feed with no other types of entertainment."
I'm personally a big TikTok user now. I think it's by far the best and most entertaining social media / content discovery network / whatever you want to call it.
Basically, it's eons ahead of Instagram, Facebook, X, and YouTube in terms of its algorithm, community, e-commerce tools, and cultural relevance.
Everything starts on TikTok now before making its way to the rest of the web.
I enjoy discovering new products on TikTok via fast paced videos of the products in action or humorous product placement videos from my favorite creators, and having them appear in between videos of Eminem freestyles, Family Guy and Malcolm in the Middle clips, home renovation videos, and comedy skits. (LOL, there's some insight into my FYP.)
However would I login to TikTok and endlessly scroll -- leaving all household and childcare responsibilities to my wife for hours on end -- if the feed was just product discovery videos?
No way! I'm not there to shop. I'm there to be entertained. Product discovery is merely a?part of that entertainment, not the full experience.
That's where Amazon went wrong with Inspire. It was "un-inspired" from the start.
The truth is, I don’t believe Amazon has what it takes to launch a genuine TikTok competitor, even if they put in a serious effort. It took TikTok years to build a culture on its app before getting more serious about its e-commerce and advertising offering, whereas Amazon executives would try to piss in the pool as soon as it had its first swimmers. In the case of Inspire, the entire pool was filled with piss before it even opened for business.
There's a reason why shopping malls have food courts, cafes, play areas for kids, and bring Santa Clause in during the winter months. Shopping malls have historically aimed to build a comfortable place for their community to exist and enjoy themselves -- which led to more shopping. Amazon skipped that part and built a strip mall.
It's unfortunate for Amazon too, because of all the major US tech companies, they've got the technological backbone, algorithmic expertise, financial backing, e-commerce and affiliate infrastructure, and employee talent pool to build a highly competitive TikTok clone.
However doing so would require Amazon to put aside their e-commerce and advertising ambitions for an extended period of time in order to build a true community on the app -- which they're simply incapable of doing.?
