Introducing Amazon Spark: A New Product Discovery Tool From Amazon

This week, Amazon is unveiling a new feature called Amazon Spark. Akin to Instagram’s use of shoppable images, Amazon Spark basically urges users to post photos of products they like, as well as ideas or stories. Apart from allowing people to react by posting comments or smiles, the feature also has a shopping functionality that can translate to purchases with just a single tap.

For the last few months, Amazon has actually been testing its new Amazon Spark feature. But now, the e-commerce giant is rolling out the service to consumers based in the United States. The shoppable attribute of the feature may lead people think that Amazon is taking a leaf out of Pinterest’s book, but Amazon Spark’s interface is designed to look like a feed. In other words, the look and feel may be more Instagram than Pinterest.

For now, Amazon Spark is not yet made available for desktop use, which means that those who do want to try it can experience it through their Amazon mobile app (for iOS only). The service can be found via the Programs & Features menu option located in the app’s navigation, wherein the user is asked to choose at least five categories that interest him or her (more on this later). Out of these interests, Amazon Spark will then go about generating a personalized feed that features products, photos, and even ideas that match the interests being provided by the user.

As for the interest categories, some of them are based on Amazon’s shopping groupings, which include Books, Technology, Music, Toys & Games, or Style & Fashion, just to name a few examples. There are also categories for more experience driven stuff like TV, Food, Cats, and Movies, among many others.

Apart from choosing categories, users will also be made to enter their name and activate notification alerts for updates to their Amazon Spark posts, comments, or reactions. Even though the generated fee is mostly comprised of posted photos, some of the items featured do include information, which might range from product descriptions or personal reviews. Now, if an image does feature a product that Amazon currently sells, a shopping bag icon will be tagged on the bottom right corner, complete with a number that says how many things from the image can be purchased directly from Amazon.com. 

The Amazon Spark feature is now being deployed to mobile users based in the US, and for now only works for Amazon’s iOS mobile app.