In Short:Snapchat has just announced a new feature for its application, and it’s called ‘Visual Search’. This new feature will basically allow you to use Snapchat’s camera in order to find products on Amazon. All you have to do is point Snapchat’s camera at a physical product or barcode, and press and hold on the camera screen. Once Snapchat’s camera recognizes the item in question, or a barcode, an Amazon card will pop up on the display, as pictured in an image above. As part of Amazon’s card, you will get a link where you can buy the product in question, or you’ll get suggestions for similar products that are available on Amazon. If you have Amazon’s app installed, it will navigate you in that direction, if not, you’ll be sent over to Amazon.com website. It is worth noting that Snapchat said this update will be rolling out slowly, so not everyone will get it at the same time, and it may take a while for you to be able to use this feature.
Background: Last month, Snapchat brought Pandora integration to its application, and that is followed by this nifty Amazon feature. We did not see that many huge updates to Amazon in recent months, but updates like these have made the app even more useful, at least if you listen to Pandora and / or purchase on Amazon often. Snapchat is one of the most popular services of its kind, and this is not only a big deal for Snapchat, but also for Amazon.
Impact: Using this new feature, consumers can simply point to a product they’re interested in and get its listing on Amazon, or at least similar product suggestions. This feature actually borrows some hints from Google Lens, that much is obvious, but it may prove to be quite useful if you’re one of those people that often see something they like but have no idea where to buy it. It remains to be seen how much will Snapchat users actually use this feature, of course.