Snapchat have been working on improving their visual identification offerings for a while now, with the view of expanding the list of features available for users. Late last year, Snapchat introduced object recognition in the form of filter and slogan suggestions that were relevant alongside different scenery/objects in your photo. Similarly, they looked for ways to improve their eCommerce offering by rolling out shoppable ads and launching AR lenses.
To combine both eCommerce and visual identification, they’re now working on a new element that means we could potentially be able to scan objects through the camera and find related visual matches to purchase on Amazon. You can also scan a barcode or share the product with friends by using the Amazon link provided.
Snapchat already has a fairly similar partnership with Shazam, whereby songs captured through Snapchat’s camera are relayed to Shazam’s music database, so as well as discovering new artists you can follow them on Snapchat.
The feature is reminiscent of the Pinterest Lens tool which enables users to scan objects in and find similar matches across the Pinterest platform. Due to the success of the Lens tool and the fact that Pinterest is growing at a faster rate than Snapchat, it looks like Snap are attempting to replicate the product search feature, ideally resulting in the same successes.
We know that Snapchat and Amazon already have an established relationship and with Amazon having over 560 million products listed, it looks like this feature could be a success for Snapchat.
Snapchat are playing the part of the underdog in the social battle at the moment, so this new feature could provide the means to a revenue boost for them.
