Although the social media battle between Snapchat and Instagram lives on Amazon has officially tossed their hat in the ring with the rollout of ‘Amazon Spark.’ Amazon is continuously looking to establish themselves as the number one retail outlet for consumers, so it comes as no surprise they have come around with a new feature. ‘Amazon Spark’ is essentially an Instagram-like photo feed targeted around product discovery. Imagine scrolling through a feed of products featuring photos, directly related to your interests, and being able to shop for them with a click of a button. Instagram is a medium used for product promotion, but to shop these products, users have to spend time searching for a way to buy them. ‘Amazon Spark’ streamlines this process and differentiates them from typical online retail outlets.

How does it work?

 

Amazon Spark is available for mobile use through the Amazon app. Users can find ‘Amazon Spark’ in the menu that will lead them to create a personal profile. From there, users will be prompted to select from a list of interests (minimum of five) that range from technology, travel, home décor, women’s fashion, and more. These categories are abundant, and they get very specific with options like ‘TV binge watching,’ ‘cats,’ or ‘BBQ.’ There is essentially a category for everyone! Once your account is set up, a feed of photos accompanied by product reviews appear. The interesting part of the feed is users can dive into a product and share their reviews and product experience through the caption of the photo. This way users scrolling through their feed can get personal feedback and insight on products.

 Images Via: TechCrunch

Similarly to tagging a person or brand in a photo on Instagram, users will see little ‘tag’ features presented in the picture that directly links to the purchasing page on Amazon. This feature comes back to the theme of quick and easy shopping at the consumer’s convenience and Amazon’s mission to create a new frontier for product reviews. The limiting aspect is you must be a Prime member to post, which may incentivize more Prime members as Amazon Spark grows.

What does this mean for Influencer Marketing?

 

While this is still a new feature that does not contain any paid or endorsed postings, there is potential for growth through influencer marketing. This combination of lifestyle imagery with consumer purchases creates a lot of space for targeted content through social media marketing techniques. Brands and companies should be keeping an eye on this feature and user growth as a potential way to target sales through this segmented buying experience.