Amazon Spark, The Retail Giant’s Social Shopping Network, Shuts Down
Amazon is well-known for being a company that continues to grow as it spills over and expands into more and more different types of marketplaces. In fact, the retail giant offers so many different types of services that there are some customers don’t know much about.
According to Tech Crunch, Amazon Spark was the retail giant’s version of Instagram that was established two years ago. The purpose of Amazon Spark was to take advantage of the social shopping trend as well as social media influencers.
As those with an Instagram account know, the social media platform allows you to follow things of interest. While trying to mimic the aesthetics of Instagram, Spark capitalized on encouraging people to shop. Tech Crunch speculates the reason Spark didn’t blossom with the same success as Instagram is because it didn’t have the same broad appeal as the social media platform.
While the retail giant has not made a public statement on it – nor have they responded to media outlet requests for comments – it appears as if Amazon Spark has shut down completely.
Multiple media outlets confirm the Amazon Spark website now redirects traffic to a page called #FoundItOnAmazon. The Amazon Spark service has also vanished from the Amazon app.
The Verge echoes that many felt that the site’s set up and interface were entirely “too transactional,” as it focused more trying to drive users to buy things on their site rather than on the interaction between users.
While the functionality of Spark just wasn’t a hit with users, the venture wasn’t a total loss. Tech Crunch reports that the #FoundItOnAmazon site has taken inspiration from the most popular aspects of Spark and combined it with popular features from another Amazon shopping tool, Interesting Finds.
Amazon Closed Down Spark https://t.co/nZr7a7yQZq pic.twitter.com/eUzrgN9vl6
— Google (@oYIOeWlgIe3ObZu) June 16, 2019
The new redirect site is said to have a very clean layout, allowing people to browse and enjoy items without the messy chaos of traditional Amazon listings.
The new site focuses mainly on home decor and fashion, which tend to be the categories where most impulse buys are made. The site makes browsing and shopping simple, allowing the user to like things and find them again later.
And just like that, Amazon pulls the plug on its shopping social network Spark https://t.co/LAcVFkImAQ
— CNET (@CNET) June 15, 2019
Multiple outlets confirm that Amazon Spark’s demise wasn’t all that hard to foresee. Many argued the lack of originality in combination with the pressure to make purchases was a huge turn off for customers.
The site also had very little to offer, experience wise, especially when compared to Instagram.
This new feature has now outshined anything the former Spark had to offer by allowing users to enjoy personal lifestyle posts while also being able to purchase items from businesses (and other users) on demand.
