Amazon is shutting down Inspire, its TikTok-style shopping feature that offered users a feed of shoppable short-form videos and photos within its mobile app. The closure, which was announced just 14 months after Inspire launched in December 2022, marks the latest in a series of failed attempts by Amazon to crack the code of social commerce.
Amazon’s decision to shut down Inspire represents a dramatic shift for the e-commerce giant: Rather than trying to force social behavior into its shopping app, the company appears set to reach customers where they naturally look for inspiration. This strategic shift could have major implications for brands’ social commerce strategies and raises important questions about the future of Amazon’s remaining social features.
The reason why social commerce failed at Amazon
Over time, Amazon has sought to take advantage of the spontaneous purchasing behaviors that drive success on social platforms. Since Amazon Spark (shut down in 2019), Amazon Live, and Posts, all attempts having failed. Inspire, launched in December 2022, represented the company’s strongest attempt yet to transform its shopping app into a TikTok-style discovery platform.
The timing is especially notable given TikTok’s uncertain future in the U.S. market. While Inspire could have positioned Amazon as an alternative platform for American shoppers seeking product recommendations via short-form videos, the program struggled to gain traction despite Amazon’s efforts to entice creators with direct monetary incentives.
Those incentives ($25 for each qualifying video up to a maximum of $12,500 for 500 videos) highlighted a fundamental misunderstanding about how social commerce actually works.
“TikTok users aren’t just buyers or data points, they’re co-creators,” explains Joanna Williams, creator economy expert and founder of Since Tomorrow, in a LinkedIn post. “Trends start in the corners of the app where people want to belong, not just buy. Compare that to Amazon’s Inspire feed… a mall disguised as a party, where every viral dance ends with a BUY NOW button.”
The contrast is stark: While TikTok’s shopping features emerged organically from genuine social interaction, Amazon sought to engineer social behavior into what remains fundamentally a utility-focused shopping app. TikTok’s success in driving shopping is not due to paying creators directly, but rather by fostering an ecosystem in which commerce emerges naturally from authenticity and interaction.
A strategic shift in alliances
Perhaps the most telling fact about Amazon’s announcement is its unusually direct acknowledgement that product discovery happens off-platform. “Beyond Amazon, we know that customers seek inspiration and product recommendations on social media,” the company said — a rare admission for a company that typically positions its own ecosystem as comprehensive.
The resounding recognition that customers are looking to social media (not just Amazon) for inspiration signals a significant strategic shift. This new mindset has already been seen in expanded partnerships, with Amazon rolling out direct shopping integrations across all major social networks. In November 2023, the company partnered with Instagram and Snap to enable direct shopping through social ads. These integrations now extend to Pinterest, Facebook, and TikTok as well, allowing customers to link their accounts so they can view familiar Amazon shopping features (including Prime eligibility, delivery estimates, and pricing) without leaving their favorite social networks.
What is the future of Amazon’s discovery tools?
While Amazon has Rufus, its AI-powered shopping assistant, as an alternative discovery tool, this appears to be more of a coincidence than a like-for-like exchange. The company’s statement suggests a broader rethink about how to approach product discovery:
“Customers can continue to be inspired in the Amazon Store with Shop by Interest, the new Homepage Display Window, Creator Stores, Curated Collections, and more. In addition to these features and our powerful search engine, we make product discovery and research easier through our AI features like Visual Search, AI-powered Buying Guides, and our shopping assistant, Rufus.”
This re-evaluation is likely to impact Amazon’s other social features. For example, Amazon Live has seen limited adoption by brands and seemingly low consumer engagement. The program’s notable absence from Amazon’s statement about discovery tools raises questions about its future.
