Amazon


AMZN

added a new feature called Inspire to its e-commerce shopping app to make shopping more fun and easier.

Inspire is a TikTok-style service that offers short-form video and photo feeds of products available on the shopping app, created by influencers, brands and other customers.

Just by clicking on a “light bulb” button on the bottom bar in the Amazon app, shoppers can access the feed posted on Inspire.

In early December, the new feature will be accessible to selected customers in the United Nations. The company will make it available across the nation in the next few months.

Now, customers will be able to choose from more than 20 interests, such as gaming, plants, makeup, skin care, pets, travel, running, hiking and interior design, to name a few.

Eventually, feeds on Inspire will get more customization based on users’ interests and engagement with the app.

We note that the latest move will aid Amazon in delivering an enhanced shopping experience to customers by enabling them to check products properly through Inspire’s feed before buying.

Also, Inspire will likely expand merchants’ reach to customers as it will enable them to entice shoppers with product videos and photos.

Amazon to Benefit

Hence, the launch of Inspire is likely to drive Amazon’s momentum among its customers as well as merchants on its shopping app.

Further, the e-commerce giant adds social shopping feature to its online shopping app through Inspire.

Moreover, it makes a foray into the social commerce space, which is gaining strong momentum with digitization happening across the world, the growing proliferation of social media platforms and increasing online shopping.

According to a report from Grand View Research, the global social commerce market is expected to witness a CAGR of 30.8% between 2022 and 2030.

Wrapping Up

The latest move adds strength to Amazon’s vast and efficient e-commerce platform, which remains its key driver in the retail industry. Its online retail segment is constantly intensifying the competition for brick & mortar stores and traditional retailers.

Moreover, the move is likely to boost holiday shopping rates on Amazon.com in the present scenario, where there is a slowdown in online shopping activities as a result of normalization toward pre-pandemic levels, stubborn inflation and fears of recession.

Notably, the company issued weaker than expected holiday sales guidance in its third-quarter 2022 earnings release.

The company is bearing the brunt of inflationary pressures, elevated staffing costs and supply-chain disruptions.

Coming to the price performance, Amazon has lost 48.1% on a year-to-date (YTD) basis.

Zacks Rank & Stocks to Consider

Currently, Amazon carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Some better-ranked stocks in the retail-wholesale sector are

Ross Stores


ROST

,

Expedia Group


EXPE

and

Walmart


WMT

. While Ross Stores sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), Expedia and Walmart carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see


the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Ross Stores has gained 3.3% on a year-to-date basis. The long-term earnings growth rate for the ROST stock is currently projected at 10.5%.

Expedia has lost 41.4% on a year-to-date basis. The long-term earnings growth rate for the EXPE stock is currently projected at 14%.

Walmart has gained 6% on a year-to-date basis. The long-term earnings growth rate for the WMT stock is currently projected at 5.5%.

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