Snapchat wants its camera to become the interface between the real and digital world. (Image: Reuters)
Snapchat has partnered with Amazon to take on Instagram and Pinterest, both of which are strengthening their foothold in social media shopping market. Snapchat has started rolling out the new visual product search feature to its users in phases. Currently, the feature will only be made available to Snapchat users based in the US.
Under this new visual product search feature, users will be able to use the Snapchat camera to scan physical objects and barcodes, to look up products online. When a product or a barcode is scanned, the app will open up a new window in a card format showing the item, its title, price, review score and prime availability. When you tap on the card, either the Amazon app or Amazon’s website will open up for you to take a look at the product description and purchase it.
This new feature works starting with Snapchat detecting if a user is scanning a song, QR Snapcode or object. After which Amazon’s machine vision tech kicks in and detects logos, artwork, package covers or other unique identifying marks to find the product on its shopping platform.
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A Snapchat spokesperson told TechCrunch, the company wants its camera to become the interface between the real and digital world. TechCrunch also said that Snapchat might be earning a referral fee per sale made or it might be just doing this free of charge to expand the utility of its social media platform.