Amazon wants to expand its TikTok-like shopping feed, calling on influencers to create hundreds of videos. But its $25-a-bottle offer — about a tenth of the going price — was widely mocked on social media.
Amazon sent selected influencers an email asking them to submit a video showcasing two or more products. The e-commerce giant said it would pay each creator up to $12,500 in exchange for up to 500 videos that meet the company’s standards, according to screenshots of messages posted on social media. Amazon plans to limit the program to 35,000 videos, or a value of $875,000.
Amazon declined to comment.
In December, Amazon launched inspired, A TikTok-like feed of photos and videos customized to a user’s interests and featuring products available for purchase on Amazon’s online store. The goal is to help consumers browse and discover products incidentally as they would on a social media platform, rather than simply searching for a specific item.
Amazon has for years relied largely on free customer reviews to lure shoppers. It has been adding more ads to the site, mostly in the form of paid-to-appear in Google-like search results.
Amazon’s foray into social commerce requires a steady stream of fresh videos and products to keep people engaged. Reaction to the company’s TikTok-like efforts has been mixed. Now, Amazon seems determined to make Inspire even more inspiring.
The timing is noteworthy: TikTok has just expanded its own e-commerce capabilities into key markets like the US and UK.Users can now shop through posts liveThe app owned by ByteDance Ltd. is also building out its own fulfillment business, according to Bloomberg. The app expects to sell $20 billion in merchandise on its platform this year and has been aggressively hiring employees with retail expertise to help marry its social media success to shopping.
The challenge for Amazon is to create content that can compete with TikTok, something TikTok has been doing for years. Paying $25 per video may not be enough, but creators are eligible for a commission if their work leads to sales, according to a person familiar with the matter.
While rates depend on many factors (including the influencer’s following), creators typically charge $212 The type of content Amazon is looking for, according to industry consultancy Brands Meet Creators.
Beauty content creator and makeup artist Jazmine Flores told Bloomberg that she typically charges $300 per photo or video. Flores said she was never asked to deliver 500 videos at once — five of which were the top ones. “I don’t think everyone has 500 Amazon items in their house,” she said in an email.
“Because I’m in the beauty/skincare field, I have to be careful, do research, spend a lot of time crafting, writing, modeling, acting, doing my own hair and makeup while homeschooling. Mother of two,” she explain. “It shouldn’t be considered a side hustle.”
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