Ecommerce doesn’t stand still for long.
While Amazon has got a vice-like grip on the industry, the retail giant is spreading its influence to social media as well, much to the delight of one platform in particular. Shopping with Snapchat looks to be the next big thing.
And it couldn’t come at a better time for Snapchat.
The concept is simple.
People can find an item in a physical store, then use Snapchat to take a photo or scan a barcode. If the item is available on Amazon, the visual search function will find it, and then present options to click through from Snapchat to Amazon to review and make a purchase. At present, the program is still undergoing testing. Once the kinks are worked out, it’s quite likely that this exciting new technology will be embraced by the masses. Retargeting ads are nothing new on social media, however, direct shopping from the world’s most popular apps hasn’t caught on just yet.
That may be about to change.
While this partnership will certainly boost traffic to Amazon, the real winner here is Snapchat.
Since rebuffing a takeover from Facebook in 2013, ‘The Yellow Ghost’ has exploded in popularity, becoming the main rival to Facebook. However, the dominant force in social media has since made some less-than-subtle moves to squash the young upstart company, including the release of an obvious clone in the shape of Instagram Stories. Indeed, the copycat version has thrown Snapchat’s future into question, with many believing certain doom was coming. Research by Forbes found that after just eight months, Instagram Stories racked up 200 million users, surpassing the 160 million on Snapchat. Worse still, influencers started to flock away from Snapchat, and the unique viewer count plummeting by 40%.
They needed help. And that’s when Amazon stepped up.
Having a behemoth like Amazon at their back is a major coup for Snapchat, opening up a massive new territory just when their decline looked to be unstoppable. Launching a platform for shopping with Snapchat is a smart move, as the platform is extremely popular with the younger demographic who are more likely to shop on their mobile phones.
For Snapchat the goal is clear: They will enjoy a massive, much-needed boost in revenue, and will likely see a resurgence in active users.
But what about Amazon? Why have they decided to back the seemingly failing Snapchat instead of the rising new star, Instagram Stories?
Well, for starters, Snapchat has already dabbled with ecommerce. Secondly, it is the preferred choice of the millennial market. Most interestingly, Snapchat users are 20% more likely to make mobile purchases than people who don’t use Snapchat. Taking all that into consideration, the partnership with Amazon looks like it may well be a recipe for success. Recent research by eMarketer projects that Snapchat will have another 1.2 million teen users by the year 2022 and their rival Facebook will lose over 2 million users in that time.
Amazon is always looking for the next step up, and this may be one of the savviest moves the company has made. They have identified the original disappearing message platform as the one to back.
Shopping with Snapchat is yet to be rolled out to the masses, but all the signs suggest it is going to be a hit.
The meteoric growth of Amazon has helped it overtake Google for product search in the past year, and now Amazon is turning its enormous wealth and resources to Snapchat.
Together, they are set to change how people shop all over the globe.
Suddenly, the future of Snapchat looks a lot brighter.
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