Amazon Interjects Social Through Amazon Spark

Amazon recently announced the launch of Amazon Spark, a service designed to improve customers’ ability to find new products.

According to a report in TechCrunch, the new service seems to take a page from Instagram’s shoppable photos. With Spark, users are urged to post stories, ideas and images of the products they either love or covet. Users can react via a comment or so-called smiles, which is the eCommerce giant’s version of Facebook’s like feature.

The report also noted Amazon had been beta testing the feature for a few months in the U.S. before the Tuesday launch. With Amazon Spark, the idea is to interject an element of social media into Amazon’s eCommerce platform which is conducted off-site.

“Amazon Spark is a place to discover things from people who share your interests,” the company said on its Website. “Whether you’re looking for inspiration for home décor or seeking advice for the best long-distance running shoes, Spark makes it easy to discover — and shop — stories and ideas from a community that likes what you like. When you first visit Spark, you’ll select a few interests and we’ll create a feed of personalized content from other Amazon customers with similar interests as you. Shop your feed by tapping on product links or photos with the shopping bag icon, or interact with people by commenting or smiling on their posts. To create a post, scroll to the top of your feed and share a product or story.”

The new feature comes just days after Amazon held its annual Prime Day during which it saw record sales. The Amazon Echo and Echo Dot sold at rates three to seven times higher than they did during Prime Day 2016. It was also a good day for marketplace sellers on Amazon. According to reports, third-party sellers unloaded 50 percent more items on the site by noon local time (1900 GMT) than in the same time frame last year.