Sometimes, it helps to get a little advice from your friends or family. But when it comes to online shopping, it can be hard to keep track of feedback from multiple people across messaging apps. Enter Amazon’s latest collaborative shopping feature—Consult-a-Friend, a new mobile shopping experience we are currently testing that lets you quickly and easily request, view, and manage your friends’ feedback on products within the Amazon Shopping app.
Customers look to a variety of sources when making purchasing decisions, and recommendations from friends and family are often among the most trusted sources. Our own data supports that customers are frequently sharing products with others. In fact, so far this year, customers used the “Share” button in the Amazon Shopping app billions of times to share products via messaging services, social media apps, and email.
Our early testing has shown that customers are particularly interested in getting feedback on apparel, shoes, electronics, and furniture, and Consult-a-Friend can streamline the buying process. Not sure if you want the shoes in black or nude? Survey your friends on the two options and see their responses in one spot.
How to use Consult-a-Friend
- Just select a product you’d like to Consult-a-Friend on and tap the “Share” button. First-time users will need to toggle the “Ask for your friends’ votes” button from the default off position to on. Select your preferred messaging app and designated recipients.
- Your friends will receive a message directing them to tap the Consult-a-Friend link to enter the Amazon Shopping app, where they can view product details and select a quick emoji reaction (😍, ☹️, or 🤔). They also have the option to add commentary.
- Once they reply, you can easily view their collective sentiment and scroll to see all text commentary in the Amazon Shopping app. All you need is your mobile device and your trusted community of shopping advisors to make confident purchasing decisions at home and on the go.
We’re in the initial stages of testing this new experience, and are excited for customers to try it. Consult-a-Friend is currently being tested with select customers in the U.S., Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Sweden, Turkey, UAE, and the UK.
Every day, customers turn to their communities to gather shopping inspiration and advice, so we are making it easy to connect with and learn from each other—whether it be from friends and family, or a broader community of influencers and customers that share the same interests. We’ll continue to test and learn as we introduce new ways for customers to turn product ideas and inspiration into packages on their doorsteps.
