Global e-commerce giant Amazon is testing a TikTok-style feed on its application that allows customers to scroll through TikTok-like photos and videos of products posted by other users.
The feature, called Inspire, allows customers to like, save and share posts of products, and purchase products directly from the feed, according to Watchful Technologies, an artificial intelligence firm from Israel, news agency AP reported.
The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) was the first to report this news. Citing people familiar with the developments, the WSJ report said Amazon was testing Inspire on a small number of its employees, and the feature could be launched more broadly.
The test of this Tiktok-style feed by Amazon does not mean the company would roll out the feature to the public in its current form.
Alyssa Bronikowski, an Amazon spokesperson, declined to comment if the company has plans to introduce the feature to all its customers, AP further reported.
Bronikowski said in a statement that Amazon is “constantly testing new features to help make customers’ lives a little easier.”
Amazon is known to often experiment with new features, sometimes even targeting its tests to specific regions.
According to research firm Marketplace Pulse, Amazon had been testing how to identify its brands in search results by tagging them with badges such as “Amazon brand” or “Exclusive to Amazon” amid pressure about its private-label business.
Daniel Buchuk, a researcher at Watchful Technologies, said the Tiktok-style feed on Amazon mostly shows photos. Buchuk suspects that if Inspire is rolled out, the feed will be video-heavy as Amazon sellers create content to make it more engaging for customers.