As part of a new partnership, Meta and Amazon have launched a new closed-loop social commerce experience that allows Facebook and Instagram users to link their social media accounts to Amazon so they can make purchases directly in-platform. Just a few days after this quiet launch, reports surfaced that Amazon had recently finalized a similar deal with Snap, Inc.‘s social platform Snapchat.
The Meta-Amazon deal was reported by multiple sources, including Disruptive Digital’s Maurice Rahmey, who shared images of the new shopping experience on LinkedIn. A Meta help page outlines the new offering: “For a more seamless shopping experience from an ad on Facebook and Instagram, you can choose to link your Meta and Amazon accounts. This opt-in experience will allow you to see real-time pricing, Prime eligibility, delivery estimates and product details on select Amazon product ads in Facebook and Instagram. You can check out with Amazon without leaving Facebook or Instagram, and experience more relevant ads.”
As the page points out, the new experience is completely voluntary: Facebook and Instagram users must opt in to link their Amazon accounts from the social platforms. Users that don’t do so will continue to see Amazon Ads that link out to the Amazon mobile website where customers can complete their purchase. Amazon’s deal with Snapchat appears to enable a similar experience, allowing users to make purchases directly in Snapchat on select Amazon ads.
Creating Social Commerce Opportunity
These new partnerships reaffirm Amazon’s focus on expanding its reach through its Buy with Prime offering, which allows partners to offer Amazon checkout outside of Amazon’s own ecosystem. In August, Shopify announced an integration with Buy with Prime, allowing merchants that use its platform and also are Amazon sellers to offer the feature (something Shopify resisted when Buy with Prime was first introduced).
Amazon is also aiming to stay ahead of other fast-growing platforms, most notably TikTok, which is inching into ecommerce and fulfillment capabilities to serve online shoppers and support emerging brands. Meta and Snap, of course, get something out of these deals as well. Most notably, they get more customer data to fuel their advertising efforts: According to the Meta help page, connecting a Meta account to Amazon “may affect your ‘activity information from ad partners’ setting on Meta by creating an exception for Amazon and stores that offer Buy with Prime as specific ad partners. That means that we may use information shared with us by Amazon and stores offering Buy with Prime to further personalize your ad experience.”
Facebook, Instagram and Snap also benefit from becoming destinations for bottom of the funnel, conversion activity for merchants, especially smaller businesses who have a presence on the Amazon marketplace. Consumers are increasingly turning to social networks to search for trends and even specific products, so bridging the gap between this inspiration and conversion will create significant opportunity for small businesses that rely on social media for brand awareness and community building, and also sell through Amazon.
