Dive Brief:
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Amazon launched a dedicated portion of its website called Amazon Live, which delivers live-streaming videos that showcase products from various brands, according to a report from TechCrunch.
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The Amazon Live page is already populated with dozens of videos from several different brands. Many of the videos currently on the page are under 5 minutes long, though a few run much longer. Amazon did not immediately reply to a request for a comment on the new streaming service.
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When visitors view a particular video, a series of product links appear below the screen. Viewers can click on any of those product links to purchase a product through Amazon or learn more information about it.
Dive Insight:
This isn't the first time Amazon has tried to use live video content to sell products. The company launched "Style Code Live" back in 2016, which promoted Amazon's growing position in apparel sales, and allowed customers to buy the fashion discussed by the show's host and celebrity guests. However, the show's run ended in the spring of 2017.
While it differs from "Style Code Live," both Amazon Live and its predecessor seem like competitive positioning aimed at QVC and HSN, the companies that got their start through broadcast TV channels, though both have since expanded to online and mobile platforms — and merged. QVC also just launched a mobile app with shoppable videos, and Facebook Live also started testing a video shopping service late last year, so the notion of using video content to drive sales may be on the upswing.
For now Amazon does not appear to be promoting Amazon Live, and it is not featured in the main site's navigation bar.
Shoppable content is starting to play a much bigger role on retailer and brand websites. That content runs the gamut from user-generated to social media to different types of narrative promotional content from brands. It's the sort of thing that other major retailers may watch closely, and may do more of themselves if they see that video pays off for Amazon this time around.
