[This story was updated on Nov. 14, 2023, to include news of a similar partnership with Snapchat.]
Meta and Amazon have quietly debuted 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 the Meta partnership made headlines, reports surfaced that Amazon also had 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. While there has been no formal announcement on the new relationship from either company, 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 help page points out, the new experience is completely voluntary: Facebook and Instagram users must actively choose to link to their Amazon account 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.
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Amazon’s deal with Snapchat appears to enable a similar experience, allowing users to make purchases directly in Snapchat on select Amazon ads.
The move continues a push by Amazon to expand its reach (and in the process often turn friends into enemies) 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).
Deals like these are crucial for Amazon to keep its lead as other platforms, notably TikTok, edge in on its ecommerce turf by building their own selling and even fulfillment capabilities to serve online shoppers. Meta and Snap, of course, get something out of the deal as well, in the form of more information to aid 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.”
