Amazon Discontinues Social Commerce Feature Inspire

Core Insights - Amazon has discontinued its social commerce feature, Inspire, which was designed to provide a video and photo feed of products within its mobile app [1][2] - The company is shifting focus to its AI assistant, Rufus, and other search features to enhance customer shopping experiences [1][2] Feature Discontinuation - Inspire was launched in December 2022 and aimed to help customers discover products through short-form videos, similar to TikTok [3] - The decision to shut down Inspire was based on regular evaluations of features to align with customer preferences [2] Influencer Engagement - Amazon struggled to attract influencers, offering significantly lower compensation than the market average, which was reported at $212 per video, while Amazon offered only$25 for videos featuring multiple products [4][3] AI Integration - The AI-powered shopping assistant, Rufus, was beta launched in February 2024 and became available to all U.S. customers in July [4] - Rufus is designed to assist customers with various shopping needs by utilizing the company's product catalog, customer reviews, and community Q&As [5]