From screen to cart: Amazon expands shoppable TV features across Prime Video

Amazon has just brought “Shop the Scene” to life, a feature first introduced a year ago as “Shop the Show” and designed so viewers can buy merchandise, clothing, or accessories that appear in their favorite movies, series, and live sports events in real time, without pausing the main screen.

How Shop the Scene works

You have probably watched a series more than once and wanted to know where a character’s outfit came from, as happened with Ali’s dress in Off Campus.

Unlike other shoppable TV models that clutter the television screen with pop-up QR codes or annoying interactive menus, Amazon is going all in on the second-screen concept. The technology syncs Prime Video playback with the native Amazon Shopping app on the user’s smartphone.

A shopping tab will simply appear, much like the X-Ray feature that tells you which actors are currently on screen (you can see it in this article’s cover image).

The purchase process can be summed up in a few simple steps:

1. Automatic syncing: while the user is watching content on Prime Video, they only need to press the up arrow on their remote and open the Amazon Shopping mobile app (logged into the same account).
2. Direct search: at that moment, the system automatically recognizes what content is being played and displays a personalized themed page on your phone. This allows the store to show products associated with what is currently on screen.
3. Unified checkout: the viewer adds items to the cart and completes the purchase using Amazon’s usual checkout process, without interrupting the stream.

You can also type the phrase “shop the show” into the Amazon Shopping app’s search bar or scan the QR code that will appear only after you press the up arrow on your remote. It will take you directly to the store for the content you are watching.

And what happens if you are watching a movie at a friend’s house and feel like buying something you see on that screen? You can do that too. The feature does not require you to be on the same Wi-Fi network or even at home. It will still let you access the product catalog associated with that content.

For now, it is available only in the United States and across more than 8,000 titles out of the 1,300 in Prime Video’s catalog.

Synchronized shopping and retention for up to 30 days later

One of the most strategically interesting aspects of this launch is that the conversion window is not limited to the moment of streaming.

Amazon has enabled users to access the “Shop the Show” catalog before, during, and up to 30 days after watching the content on Prime Video. This makes it possible to capitalize on delayed purchase intent, a very common behavior in eCommerce where interest sparked by a series turns into a transaction hours or days later.

In this way, Amazon reinforces its closed ecosystem by leveraging its main competitive advantage over rivals such as Netflix or Disney+: the logistics and instant fulfillment infrastructure of its marketplace.

So yes, when we told you a few years ago that social commerce and shoppable TV were here to stay, we were right.

Image: Amazon