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October 9, 2023

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What is Amazon Explore?

How much is amazon explore, how is amazon explore different from other virtual experiences, my experience with amazon explore, some of the best amazon explore experiences to try, prime members can try amazon's new virtual travel experiences for free — here's what the platform is like to use and some of the best tours to try.

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• Amazon Explore was recently launched to offer interactive, one-on-one virtual travel experiences.
• Hosts are located around the world and for some, you can even shop for local items in real time.
• Amazon Explore experiences range from $10 to $99, but Prime members can try it for free.

The other night I walked through the streets of Tokyo, stopping in at small shops, exploring handmade ceramics, saying hi to a local shopkeeper, and filling a basket with new treasures to display in my home — all while sitting in my living room in New Jersey. This was possible thanks to one of the new virtual tours from Amazon Explore . 

For the last long year, I've been trying to scratch my travel itch with virtual experiences, with mixed success. I tried online cooking classes, virtually toured museums and historical sites around the globe, and even bought my son and his cousin a small group online tea ceremony with EF Tours. And I've followed along as Airbnb added online interactive tours with guides. 

After all of that, I was surprised to hear that Amazon was jumping into the game. After a year of online experiences, why now? And how would this be different? 

To find out, I bought a virtual ticket for a first-hand Amazon Explore review to see exactly what they were offering. 

Amazon Explore is a series of live, virtual one-on-one experiences with hosts located around the world. You can access the program on the Amazon website. However, as a brand new offering that is technically still in beta, it's a little hard to spot tucked away as the very last entry on the "Programs and Features" tab.

Perusing Amazon Explore you'll find experiences ranging from hands-on cooking to tours of Paris and Berlin to virtual trips to the beach. Before I jumped in and booked my own tour, I was given an opportunity to do a short media "sampling" of Amazon Explore for review purposes. Highlights included two cooking experiences (salsa in Mexico , $28, and pasta making in Italy , $52) and two shopping and culture tours (one in Tokyo for only $9 and Quebec City at a pricey $62). They were all fun and exciting enough that I was eager to sign up for a full experience myself after. 

Other available options range from learning about the legends of alchemy in Prague ($56) to getting up close with sloths in Costa Rica ($27). No matter your travel interests, it's easy enough to find an experience catered to it. You can also filter by place, price, ratings, experience duration, and more to help narrow down the options. 

Everything takes place within the unique Amazon platform, and on the shopping experiences, you have the added benefit of being able to pick items out in real time to be sent to you later. 

Prices run the gamut from $10 to $99. Sometimes you'll find multiple prices for similar experiences (individual guides set their own prices, according to Amazon). Those who have Amazon Prime can try their first experience up to $50 completely free using the code FREEFUN . If you're not already a Prime member, you can sign up here . 

Before you get started, shop around to make sure you're not overpaying, just like you would if you were actually in the destination. 

Like purchasing any other item on Amazon, you can use your preferred stored payment method, add a new card, or use gift cards.

One additional way you can pay is with travel points — which is especially great since many of us have been sitting on a pile of unused points due to the pandemic. Hilton Honors has expanded its collaboration with Amazon so you can now use your Hilton points to book experiences. You just need to link your Hilton account with your Amazon one before you book. 

I noticed that the charge for my session wasn't processed until I had successfully completed my experience, and I also had the option to cancel right up until the time slot began. If there are tech difficulties that force a cancellation, you'll automatically be refunded. 

There are a few things that make Amazon stand out from other online virtual tours and experiences. First, every tour with Amazon Explore is a one-on-one experience. If you're hoping to sit back with your microphone turned off, this isn't going to be your cup of tea. However, if you miss chatting with someone new, asking questions about what you're looking at, or trying out a few words of a new language, this is a great option. 

Another difference you'll notice right away is the high production value. While other experiences use a regular Zoom log-in, Amazon has created its own unique platform. This high-tech option has integrated graphics, including maps and labels; the ability to touch an item on your screen and have your guide see what you're pointing to; and one-touch buttons for taking screenshots and to use a "megaphone" to talk to locals (for example, a shopkeeper) near your guide.

One thing to note: Currently, there's no dual camera. Amazon's platform allows you to see your guide, but they can't see you. However, you can still easily converse in real time.

Another intersection where Amazon Explore detours from Airbnb and other virtual tours is with the shopping experiences. Your guide will shop for you if your experience is marked with an "In-Session Shopping" tag. 

On a shopping itinerary I tried, this was a revelation and an entirely new way of interacting with the destination. The guide entered a local store, held up items, and after we chose one, brought it to the register, photographed it, and purchased it for me. The itemized charges appeared in my Amazon orders immediately. Genius. 

However, shipping is extra, so don't assume you'll have free Amazon Prime delivery for this program. 

Additionally, for one of the cooking experiences, I was able to have all of my fresh ingredients delivered from Amazon Fresh. Although this service isn't fully integrated into the program yet (it's not a one-click option), it's easy enough to copy and paste the ingredient list into your Whole Foods or Fresh shopping basket. 

While you're at it, you can also order any suggested kitchen equipment for your recipe from the Amazon site (if you're wondering, like I was, why Amazon is getting into experiences, this was an "Aha" moment).

I was interested in trying Amazon Explore 's live shopping options, and my son, who was joining me for this experience, is interested in Japanese culture, so it was an easy jump to choose a Tokyo shopping experience. There were three options that worked for us timing-wise (we had to choose a late-night time slot on the East Coast to coincide with stores opening in Japan in the morning) for $10, $20, and $39 price points, all 45 minutes long. I chose the mid-level option: Shop Like a Chef . It was a tour of Kappabashi, an area of Tokyo that specializes in cookery and kitchenware, and $20 for a 45-minute private session seemed like a good value.  

Our session started out strong. Explore has an interface that can only be accessed via Amazon on a laptop or desktop computer. The graphics were great, and the short intro of technicolor experiences around the world created Disney-level excitement. This was definitely not a Zoom chat. 

Our guide Giulia (a friendly, trilingual Italian, Japanese speaker), jumped right in with introductions and gave us a quick intro to the cooking district complete with a map of the area displayed across our screen and crisp graphics that showed four shop choices available to tour — Chopsticks, Ceramics, Fake Food, and Knives. Giulia said we'd have time for two, and we chose Ceramics and Fake Food, because plastic ramen was something we needed to see.

One note I quickly realized is that you need to be decisive on these tours. It helps to be able to pull the trigger quickly on a purchase since time is quite literally ticking while you shop. After I (finally) committed to a lovely hand-painted teapot and two teacups halfway through the session, Giulia brought them to the register and photographed them so she could return after the tour to process payment. 

We then tagged along on a quick walk through Kappabashi, listening to the sounds of shoppers and background store music on our way to an "only in Japan" shop filled with hand-painted food replicas. 

Several magnets and key chains shaped like raw fish later, our 45-minute tour was over and it was time to say sayonara . All around, it was a really fun, truly unusual, and rewarding virtual experience.

My receipt arrived immediately, and although shipping can take as long as four weeks, my package arrived in just five days. However, be aware that prices can quickly add up on top of the initial experience price. I ended up spending $80 while shopping and the shipping was an additional $25. 

"Souvenirs are memories," enthused guide Mizuki in Japan at the end of our tour, which seemed to perfectly sum up why these experiences seem so special. Staying at home this year I have neither new memories nor new souvenirs, and I was happy for an opportunity to get both. 

Overall, I found the Amazon virtual experiences I tried to be superior to other online travel options I've tried. From the unique interactive platform to the personal, one-on-one interactions to the real-time shopping options, these virtual offerings truly stand out in a crowded field.  I'm guessing that when Amazon Explore comes out of beta there will be a dual video option, which would be very helpful. 

Still, I was thoroughly impressed by the quality of the Amazon Explore programming and the tech which delivered it to my home. 

Ready to try out Amazon Explore and take a virtual vacation yourself? Consider some of these top Amazon Explore experiences. And don't forget, if you have Amazon Prime you can try your first experience up to $50 for free using the code FREEFUN at checkout.

• Explore Florence, Italy's historic city center, including Piazza del Duomo, San Lorenzo Church, and more ($10)
• Visit Costa Rica's Las Pumas Rescue Center and meet jaguars, monkeys, sloths, and more ($27.30)
• Cook authentic Manchmanteles Mole with a Mexican chef ($28)
• Tour a foodie's paradise and visit one of Singapore's famed hawker centers ($24)
• Take an iPhone photography class with an award-winning photographer and filmmaker ($45)
• Sip on Malbecs and wine taste your way across Argentina ($20.30)
• Get up close with cuddly kangaroos and koalas at a Sydney wildlife park ($59)
• Learn to make delicious French macarons from The Lincoln Apartment Bakery in Montreal ($69)

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Amazon launches a virtual tours and experience platform, Amazon Explore

Amazon today is launching a new service called Amazon Explore that allows customers to book live, virtual experiences led by local experts. The experiences may be focused on creativity, learning DIY skills, taking virtual tours of far-off places or cultural landmarks or, in some cases, shopping local boutiques from around the world.

For example, you could book a virtual wine tasting experience in Argentina, learn how to make smoked fish tacos in Mexico, take a virtual tour of Kyoto’s Nanzenji Temple, tour a 500-year-old mansion in Peru, learn about coffee creation in Costa Rica, learn how to make sushi from a home kitchen in Tokyo and more.

Though the tours and experiences offer the ability to virtually travel the globe, the ability to sign up for an Amazon Explore session is currently offered on an invite-only basis for customers in the U.S. only.

The virtual experiences themselves will be guided by local experts who are trained and supported by Amazon, the company says. While there are other ways to virtually tour the world — like watching YouTube videos or perhaps taking guided tours via Google Earth — the Amazon Explore experience is different because it’s a one-on-one session between the host and the viewer, enabled by one-way video and two-way audio for real-time communication. This is meant to give the viewer more of the feeling of really “being there,” compared with experiences where you more passively watch the video on the screen.

The sessions themselves range 30 to 60 minutes in length and can be canceled or rescheduled with up to 24 hours’ notice. When it’s time to begin your tour, you’ll just sign into your Amazon account online, then click in to Your Session page from the “Your Orders” section to get started.

Anyone can now create maps and stories on Google Earth

The sessions will require you have a laptop or desktop, as they’re not mobile-friendly at this time. You’ll also need to have a Chrome, Edge or Safari web browser, functional microphone (the built-in one is fine) and a set of headphones or speakers, as well as an internet connection of 5 mbps or higher.

During the session, you can ask questions or further direct the experience by asking the host to spend more time on one aspect of the experience or skipping another. You can also use the camera icon at the bottom of the live stream to take photos.

Some, but not all, experiences are also shopping-enabled. In these cases, customers are able to visit local stores and markets, browse items and ask questions of the shop owner as if they were there in person. They can then choose to make a purchase and receive the items they bought as if they had been shopping on Amazon.com directly. When they make a purchase, the payments are handled within Amazon’s secure payment system using the payment method associated with the customer’s account. It then will reimburse the host for the item purchased, accordingly.

In these shopping-enabled experiences, Amazon is somewhat tapping into the live-stream shopping trend, but instead of having an influencer talk about and demo a product — as is often the case on Amazon Live, for example — you can actually ask the shop owner questions or have them zoom into the product or turn it over and around for a better look.

Though Amazon has built live-streaming tools for its Live platform, the company says the Amazon Explore experience uses unique technology.

‘Amazon Live’ is the retailer’s latest effort to take on QVC with live-streamed video

Amazon says the new platform enables more opportunities for small business owners looking to generate additional income, including shop owners, local guides, chefs, stylists, artists and artisans, for example. Many of these businesses have been impacted by the pandemic, of course, which may prompt their participation.

Pricing for the sessions is variable. At launch, there’s a virtual styling session being offered for just $10, for example. Meanwhile, a virtual tour of NYC’s Central Park is going for $150. Amazon says the hosts set their own prices and hours, without having to abide by any set minimum or maximum price. However, the company declined to detail any revenue-sharing agreements.

At launch, many of the experiences on the site offered are being offered by local tour operators, though any business that has a tour idea is invited to apply. Others who could host experiences include historians, artists, musicians, master craftsmen, chefs, personal shoppers or anyone with a skill or adventure to share, says Amazon.

There are currently 86 total experiences available across 16 countries, with the plan to grow the selection in time.

The feature is now being offered in public beta to users in the U.S. on an invite-only basis.

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You Can Now Book Virtual Travel Experiences on Amazon

Users can learn how to make Montreal bagels, take a virtual tour of a Kyoto temple, explore Argentina through a virtual wine tasting, and much more.

Meena Thiruvengadam is a lifelong traveler and veteran journalist who has visited more than 50 countries across six continents. Her writing has appeared in The Wall Street Journal , Departures , TripSavvy , and other publications.

Amazon has launched a new virtual travel platform that lets users book interactive experiences, like walking tours and cooking classes, while shopping for local treasures along the way.

Amazon Explore , now in beta, offers the opportunity to learn how to make authentic Montreal bagels, take a virtual tour of Kyoto's Nanzenji Temple, travel across Argentina through a virtual wine tasting, and check out New York City’s sprawling Central Park.

Prefer to learn about coffee production from Costa Rica, sushi making from a teacher in Japan, or the secret to amazing smoked fish tacos, like the ones you loved in Mexico? There are experiences for that, too.

Most experiences are currently being managed by tour operators whose businesses have changed drastically against the backdrop of the coronavirus, though individuals with something to share also are invited to apply.

TechCrunch counts 86 experiences in 16 countries so far, and Amazon is promising to expand those numbers.

Amazon Explore experiences are typically between 30 and 90 minutes long, and are available by invitation only. Amazon members can request invitations through the site.

And camera-shy wanderlusters can rest easy — only guides appear on camera during the experiences. However, audio is enabled for participants, allowing them to have real-time conversations with their guides.

The approach aims to create a “sense of ‘being there’ as opposed to simply watching passively on a screen,” an Amazon spokesperson told The Washington Post .

Unlike many other virtual travel experiences , those using Amazon Explore will have the opportunity to shop for souvenirs along their journeys. Amazon said its experiences allow users to browse local stores and markets as they might in real life, to ask questions of sellers, and shop just like they do on Amazon.

Shoppers will face some limitations, however. Popular souvenirs like alcohol, art, food, and children’s toys aren’t available for purchase, Amazon said .

Meena Thiruvengadam is a Travel + Leisure contributor who has visited 50 countries on six continents and 47 U.S. states. She loves historic plaques, wandering new streets, and walking on beaches. Find her on Twitter and Instagram .

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Amazon Briefing: Amazon is quietly experimenting with virtual storefronts

This is the latest installment of the Amazon Briefing, a weekly Modern Retail+ column about the ever-changing Amazon ecosystem. More from the series →

More virtual stores are popping up on Amazon’s online marketplace. 

In one brightly lit store, Amazon shoppers can browse a curated selection of coffee makers neatly arranged on shelves, including models from Cuisinart and Nespresso. A similar experience is found in a neon-colored store selling electronics . Another digital world is less of a store and more like a tour of a virtual home where shoppers can browse various home goods room by room, curated by Everything Envy , an influencer duo that also conducts livestreams on Amazon. 

Finally, there are also brand-specific stores, like a three-dimensional Star Wars store, selling everything from lightsaber replicas to action figures, as well as a Lego store.

The digital stores aren’t the easiest for shoppers to find. Though Star Wars and Lego include signage on their landing pages that direct shoppers to the virtual stores, Amazon’s coffee, electronics and home goods 3D stores are tricker to locate as they don’t appear to be prominently displayed on the website. The stores can also be found on a relevant product’s listing page. For example, a product page for a Stormtrooper helmet includes a link underneath the item photo that says “View in 3D Showroom,” which when clicked upon, takes a user to the Star Wars virtual store.

It’s unclear when exactly the storefronts debuted, but they appear to be relatively new. Amazon touted its virtual home tour in a March 26 Instagram post . Everything Envy wrote a separate post about the home tour on their blog in February. Amazon declined to comment for this story, including specific questions about when each virtual storefront was rolled out and the extent to which such e-commerce experiences will be unveiled in the future. Lego and Disney, which owns the Star Wars brand, also did not respond to requests for comment. 

Amazon has dabbled with virtual reality shopping tools for years, and the growing prevalence of virtual storefronts on its web store is the latest sign that the e-commerce giant remains bullish on this type of shopping technology. Last year, Amazon partnered with 3D visualization platform Hexa to let sellers create digital twins of real-life goods that can be added to their product pages, including virtual try-on capabilities and 360 viewing. In 2020, Amazon debuted its Room Decorator tool, which helps shoppers digitally visualize furniture in their homes. Last summer, Amazon Fashion introduced virtual try-on tools for shoes from brands like Puma and Adidas, which was later expanded to include a similar tool for eyewear.

“Amazon is always experimenting with the digital shopping experience, and what we’re seeing here is a trail of Easter eggs, so to speak,” said Mike Black, chief growth officer at research firm Profitero. “They’re definitely testing it out and seeing if they can get that consumer engagement.” 

The challenge will be getting consumers on board. Amazon is not known as the go-to destination for window shopping compared to platforms like TikTok. That said, the Seattle-based company has rolled out tools to enhance product discovery on its website, including a TikTok-like news feed called Inspire .

To Melissa Minkow, director of retail strategy at digital consultancy firm CI&T, the virtual storefronts seem like a similar bid to boost product discovery on the platform, but it remains to be seen how effective the strategy will be. 

“People go to Amazon to leverage the ratings and reviews because at that point, they already have a pretty clear intention of the item they want,” said Minkow. “This removes a lot of the research components that make Amazon such a valuable shopping experience.”

It’s also a possible sign that Amazon is entertaining the viability of the metaverse, even as public interest in the metaverse has largely faded since the concept took corporate America by storm a couple of years ago. If so, Amazon isn’t alone. Last month, Walmart unveiled a virtual storefront of its own called Walmart Realm, where shoppers can shop a curated selection of digital twins of the retailer’s products, all in a three-dimensional, video game-like environment.

Amazon has been relatively tight-lipped about its metaverse plans compared to its tech peers. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg was so bullish on the power of the metaverse that he changed the company’s name to Meta in 2021. (Since then, the Meta CEO has traded his metaverse ambitions for AI.) By contrast, Amazon has taken a more reserved stance when it comes to the metaverse. In 2022, for example, David Limp, Amazon’s head of devices at the time said at The Wall Street Journal’s Future of Everything Festival that the company would rather focus on technology that affects the real world “here and now.” 

Still, there are plenty of other signs that Amazon has never entirely written off the metaverse. For example, the Seattle-based company has previously posted job listings seeking candidates with experience in “building 3D games, 3D digital twins, or metaverse technology.” Last year, Amazon introduced Amazon Anywhere, which allows customers to buy physical goods from its online web store while playing video games. 

Whatever the motivation behind virtual stores on Amazon, Minkow said the technology will need to improve before consumer adoption will be widespread. Although virtual stores have become more prevalent since the pandemic, Minkow generally finds the experiences clunky and difficult to navigate, including Amazon’s iterations. 

“Amazon has been a really good teacher for consumers in terms of getting them to develop new shopping behaviors,” said Minkow. “But until virtual store experiences are easier to maneuver and provide differentiated value, they’re just not a platform that I see shoppers embracing.

Prime Day sneak peek

Amazon finally disclosed that Prime Day will happen on July 16 and 17. Earlier this week, Modern Retail spoke with analysts and industry experts about what brands and customers alike can expect from the upcoming sales event. According to a new estimate from data intelligence firm Similarweb, Amazon should bring in $14.7 billion in revenue this year, making it the biggest Prime Day ever.

Here are some new data points to help contextualize that growth. 

Shoppers are splurging on higher-end cosmetics Even as inflation-weary consumers increasingly have traded down to less expensive products across most product categories, cosmetics are bucking that trend, according to a report released Wednesday by Adobe.

While shares of units sold of personal care products fell by nearly 11% for the months of April and May, compared to January levels, cosmetics told a different story. For example, the most expensive lipsticks rose by more than 37% over the same period. Similarly, in fragrances, the more expensive goods jumped by more than 19%. 

It makes sense as Amazon has increasingly pitched itself as a go-to destination for beauty and personal care sales, courting more such brands to its platform, including prestige labels, Modern Retail previously reported . It’s a sign that cosmetics sales will likely be a top-performing product category this upcoming Prime Day.

Beauty and personal care will be top of mind for shoppers this Prime Day The cosmetics, skin care and fragrance product category has surged in popularity among consumers, according to a report released Wednesday by Coresight Research analyst Aditya Kaushik. 

Asked what goods they expected to shop this upcoming Prime Day, nearly 25% of respondents said cosmetics, skin care and fragrance products, up 5% from the year before. According to Coresight’s 2024 Prime Day survey, that puts the cosmetics, skin care and fragrance product category in fourth place in terms of overall rankings. In 2023, the same category ranked ninth place. 

There’s still room for pessimism A Coresight survey conducted in late May 2024 found that three-quarters of shoppers in the U.S. expect to browse or buy products during Prime Day, with nearly 34% expecting to spend. However, in 2023, actual spending behavior was significantly lower than plans indicated. 

“This paints a pessimistic picture for the event this year if actual behavior follows the same pattern, particularly as plans to spend are down 11.2 percentage points versus in 2023,” Kaushik wrote in the report. “However, increased spending by engaged shoppers this year could somewhat offset a reduction in number of shoppers, in terms of dollar spending.”

Amazon news to know

• Amazon is reportedly upping its competition with Temu. The company plans to launch a shopping section featuring cheap items that can be shipped directly from China, The Information reports .
• Amazon’s market cap has surpassed $2 trillion, putting it in a select group of other companies like Alphabet, Nvidia and Apple.
• Amazon is working on a ChatGPT competitor, Business Insider reports .

What we’ve covered

• Inflation-battered shoppers are expected to drive another sales record for Amazon’s Prime Day
• Why M.M.LaFleur & Perigold are teaming up to sell each other’s products
• Why TikTok-viral brands are embracing brick-and-mortar retail

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