• by Colin Kirkland , February 18, 2025

Despite TikTok's uncertain lifespan in the United States, as well as the global rise of social commerce, Amazon is discontinuing its Inspire social feed, which resembled TikTok Shop and allowed users to purchase products from branded creator-made video and photo content.

Inspire originally launched in 2022, when social commerce -- inspired by Chinese apps like Douyin -- began to gain traction in the United States.

Since then, the industry has grown. It is on track to be a $100 billion industry in the U.S. this year, with an estimated $71.6 billion in purchases made in 2024.

TikTok Shop's U.S. division alone recorded over $100 million in sales on Black Friday this year.

Therefore, Amazon's shutdown of this particular investment in the social commerce space comes as a surprise, especially since TikTok's future in the U.S. remains uncertain, with various investors continuing to compete for the opportunity to purchase the app before it vanishes from the region, and social-media platforms rapidly developing copycat features.

However, according to a company spokesperson, the end of Inspire can be attributed to customer disinterest.

“We regularly evaluate various features to better align with what customers tell us matters most, and as part of that, Inspire is no longer available,” the spokesperson said.

The initiative may have also had an issue with attracting influencers to create shoppable content. Not long after Inspire launched, influencers involved in an Inspire content payout program complained about low compensation from Amazon and likely prioritized competing platforms for higher payouts.

But as a major influence in ecommerce, Amazon has other paths into the social commerce space. In 2023, the ecommerce giant partnered with Instagram and Snap, introducing a more seamless social shopping experience directly inside the social-media platforms.

The company is also committed to developing livestream shopping -- a potential focal point of future social commerce in the U.S.

Last year, “Amazon Live” expanded from desktop, mobile and Fire TV to a free ad-supported TV (FAST) channel on Prime Video and Freewave, giving U.S.-based customers more opportunity to engage in 24/7 shoppable content.

Finally, Amazon is also testing a new feature designed to redirect shoppers to other brands’ websites when they search in the app for a particular product that Amazon does not carry.