Amazon is closing its Instagram-like shopping feature, Amazon Spark, just 2 years after it launched. Customers could scroll through its Instagram-like feed and click on tagged things in the photos or stories and buy these directly on Amazon’s website.
Amazon is closing its Instagram-like shopping feature before many shoppers even had an opportunity to use it.
Known as Amazon Spark, the shopping tool launched just 2 years ago and
was set up to enable users to browse
Amazon merchandise more easily.
Users could click on things tagged in photos and
stories and buy these
directly on Amazon. Spark was only offered
to Amazon Prime members.
But Spark didn’t seem to take off as expected. Many people have probably never heard of
this service and since it launched, Instagram has unveiled an analogous rival shopping feature that allows its users to buy directly in its app,
Instagram Checkout. Analysts are
expecting checkout to be so successful that it’ll generate $10 billion in
revenue in 2021.
Techcrunch, which was 1st to
report the news of Spark being removed
from Amazon’s website and
app, said that its
winding down is additionally because its “primary
stakeholder” and Amazon ‘s VP of consumer engagement, Chee Chew, left the corporate at the beginning of 2019, according to sources familiar with the matter.
The URL amazon.com/spark currently redirects the shopper to a new #FoundItOnAmazon website, which is a similar
service that’s centered on shoppable images of fashion and home decoration items.
“Spark isn’t gone entirely, we’ve pivoted and narrowed the experience based on what resonated with
customers,” a spokesperson for
Amazon wrote in a statement
to Business insider.
“We’ve changed the
name to #FoundItOnAmazon to reflect the
tag that influencers are using on
social media to share their great finds
with others.”
Amazon has been ramping up its efforts in recent
months to be seen as a fashion shopping destination. It’s rolled out new private-label brands, launched Prime Wardrobe (a
try-before-you-buy service), and most
recently unveiled its
new fashion initiative, The Drop, where it enlisted a series of fashion
influencers to make exclusive
collections for its website.