Amazon Leans Into Collaborative Shopping
Amazon is once again exploring new possibilities when it comes to online shopping. The mega-company has introduced its latest collaborative shopping feature: Consult-a-Friend, a new mobile shopping experience that lets users quickly and easily request, view and manage their friends’ feedback on products within the Amazon Shopping app.
The company's own data supports the idea that customers frequently share products with others. According to Amazon, so far this year, customers used the “Share” button in the Amazon Shopping app billions of times to share products via messaging services, social media apps and email.
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Early testing by Amazon has shown that customers are particularly interested in getting feedback on apparel, shoes, electronics and furniture. Also, Amazon said that Consult-a-Friend is ideal for holiday shopping because it can streamline buying group gifts by keeping everyone’s responses in one convenient location for the purchaser.
How to use Consult-a-Friend:
- Select a product you’d like to Consult-a-Friend on and tap the “Share” button. First-time users will need to toggle the “Ask for your friends’ votes” button from the default off position to on. Select your preferred messaging app and designated recipients.
- Friends will receive a message directing them to tap the Consult-a-Friend link to enter the Amazon Shopping app, where they can view product details and select a quick emoji reaction (😍, ☹️ or 🤔). They also have the option to add commentary.
- Once they reply, you can view their collective sentiment and scroll to see all text commentary in the Amazon Shopping app.
Consult-a-Friend is currently available to all customers in the United States, Australia, Belgium, France, Germany, India, Italy, Mexico, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Sweden, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom.
Meanwhile, Consult-a-Friend isn’t the only new feature Amazon is rolling out to help make shopping more collaborative. Earlier this year, the company launched Inspire, an in-app shopping experience that gives users a new way to discover ideas, explore products, seamlessly shop content created by influencers and brands they love, and explore products based on customer reviews. Now users can share favorite products with other shoppers on Inspire with the new “Create” feature.
The “Create” feature makes it easy for users to connect with — and learn from — other shoppers with shoppable content. Users can quickly take a photo or video of their favorite products in-app, or upload content from the phone, tag the product and share their experience, helping to inspire and educate other customers on their shopping journeys. With the ability to create their own shoppable videos and photos on Amazon, users now have a visual way to share their unique perspective, ideas and experiences, fostering a sense of community and sparking inspiration, according to the company.
Seattle-based Amazon is No. 2 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2023 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America. PG also named the company one of its Retailers of the Century.
