In one of the most unexpected team-ups since Batman and Sherlock Holmes (Yes, this did happen!), Amazon and Snapchat have partnered together to push for social shopping supremacy. Snapchat announced recently it is currently in the process of building a visual product search feature, codenamed ‘Eagle’, that will deliver users through to Amazon listings.
Users will be able to use the Snapchat camera to scan objects or barcodes, which will then bring up a product listing that displays that item along with similar options, their title, price, average review score, Prime availability and an image of the product. If the individuals then choose to tap on one of the options, they will be transported through to the Amazon App or website to buy it.
The tech that is being developed by Snapchat will determine whether you’re scanning a song, barcode or object and then Amazon’s vision tech takes over – recognising logos, artwork, packaging along with many other unique identifiers.
It is currently only available to a small percentage of the US. However, the feature has already proven useful for when you don’t know the name of the product you’re looking at, such as clothing or footwear (see above). What marketers are expecting is that this, along with Instagram shopping tags and Pinterest’s Lens visual search, could turn visual search into a new form of word-of-mouth marketing. Essentially every time someone shows off a product, ‘they’re effectively erecting a billboard for it’.
All Response Media viewpoint
There are two clear benefits for brands here, most obviously the additional exposure that retail clients will receive (if they are selling through Amazon) could be enormous.
Secondly, Amazon is clearly warming up to social partnerships, recognising its ‘lone wolf’ status is no longer a viable option. Along with being named Snapchat’s official search partner, it is also going to be bringing Alexa voice control to Facebook’s portal video chat screen (mentioned in the snippet at the top of the page). As these partnerships grow, the wealth of data and ability to target in more granular detail will only strengthen All Response Media’s advertising capabilities moving into the future.
