Photos of French fries, noodles and momos... on the Amazon shopping app?

Under #FoundItOnAmazon, users can view photos of food, recipes, and shop for all the ingredients and utensils too.

While scrounging for Black Friday deals on Amazon India, the author chanced upon a new feature on the Amazon app. The feature made her briefly forget that she was browsing on Amazon. Since it was rainy season where she lived, Amazon suggested four different monsoon recipes to try and make at home.

Tapping on the recipe took her to the work of a creator who had described, in detail, how to make the dishes listed above. When she scrolled down the post, there was an option to purchase the necessary ingredients and utensils to make the dish at home. This content can be accessed in a new section of the app called #FoundItOnAmazon.

Amazon is an aggregator, so all the ingredients belong to different brands. This is in contrast to branded recipes in which all the ingredients belong to a particular brand. A case in point is the video below.

Myntra also has an offering called Myntra Studio, wherein creators can upload photos and videos of themselves wearing clothes, and viewers can shop for the specific pieces they are wearing in the post.

Another e-commerce brand that showcases influencers' content on its platform to drive sales is Flipkart. It has a section of its app called Ideas, and the brand mentions that these consumers need easy discovery, inspiration and 'post-purchase hand-holding' as they navigate through the e-commerce platform.

The feed hosts content from brands and influencers, and will be available under 14 key interest areas, including fashion, health and fitness, gadgets, food and nutrition, home and living, and so on. Ideas will engage consumers through videos, images, GIFs, stories, polls and quizzes.

Flipkart also recently announced the launch of social commerce on its ‘value’ platform 2GUD. With the launch of this new influencer-led video shopping arm, Flipkart joins the group of budding startups like Meesho, Bulbul, DealShare, SimSim and GlowRoad.

These platforms play primarily in areas like fashion trends, gadget reviews, beauty, etc. The move comes at a time when the Indian e-commerce scene is heating up with Internet giants like Facebook and Google investing in Reliance's Jio Platforms, which JioMart is a part of.

The idea of social commerce is to drive discovery and transactions via recommendations from relevant influencers (read content creators). It aims to bring influencers and online commerce closer by creating a virtual experience of the look and feel of products.

Also Read: Flipkart ventures into social commerce: What does it mean for the ecosystem in India?

The Flipkart team, citing ‘industry reports’, claims that social commerce accounts for 15-20 per cent of the online retail market in India, and is expected to hit the $70 billion mark in 10 years. According to Statista, revenue from e-commerce in the country is expected to reach a projected market value of $71 billion by 2024, from this year’s $43.5 billion.