Amazon Now Lets You Shop Directly On TikTok and Pinterest
Amazon is expanding its social media presence with new deals with TikTok and Pinterest. The idea is to reach consumers (and make shopping easier) where they spend most of their time: on social media. The deals were agreed under the code name “Project Handshake,” and are an effort by the e-commerce giant to accelerate its slowing sales growth.
What it means
According to information from the Bloomberg Línea portal, users can link their TikTok and Pinterest profiles to their Amazon accounts and then buy products directly from the ads. The initiative aims to make it more convenient for customers to buy via social networks, according to recent a statement of Amazon officials.
Online shopping via social media is becoming more popular in the United States, with ByteDance Inc.’s TikTok launching an e-commerce platform last year. Amazon’s deals with TikTok and Pinterest follow similar negotiations with Meta (META) and Snap (SNAP).
An Amazon spokesperson said, "Customers who link their US accounts will be able to view real-time pricing, Prime eligibility, delivery estimates, and product details on select Amazon listings featured on TikTok".
The Pinterest-Amazon partnership works similarly and is an extension of an existing relationship, in which Pinterest relies on Amazon to help fill excess ad inventory.
The collaboration between Amazon, TikTok, Pinterest and other social networks is still in its early stages. But it could change the way we shop online. That’s because it combines the enormous reach of these platforms with the infrastructure of an e-commerce giant.
Interestingly, TikTok is actively developing its own trading platform and concluded a similar agreement. In 2022, TikTok launched live shopping in North America and added new shopping features such as special tabs and buttons for shopping during live streams.
However, the integration with Amazon could create competition for its own platform, especially in the face of a potential ban on TikTok in the US if ByteDance, its parent company, does not agree to sell the US part of the business.
