Last Sunday I went out for a drink, with a friend. She wanted a particular blend of Mojito but was unable to recollect the exact name for it. So, she pointed to the table next to us, a young guy sipping the drink of her choice. Aha, the server boy smiled and took the order. My friend was looking for a blend of Kaffir lime, Basil, and lemongrass. We feel like doing this, all the time, especially, when we are shopping, online, I thought. Photo search in e-commerce is a direct manifestation of what is on our mind.

What’s Visual Search in e-commerce?

Visual search or photo search in e-commerce is not something new, nor is it completely unheard of. It existed back in 2009 when Zappos had photo-searching enabled search functionality on its site.

The recent trend is more about knowing the consumer, as a person, rather than as a customer segment (with well-defined demographics). So, what makes it special? Why is photo-search such an in-thing in e-commerce now? Well, the answers are many. But as all roads lead to Rome, so the bottom-line is customer satisfaction through personalization of preferences.
Photo search in e-commerce is able to read an image for explicit details such as color, shape, size, and proportions. This is way ahead of keyword-matched search, in which results are dependent upon the user’s ability to define a product or service through appropriate keywords.
Also, with keyword search, keywords must exist in both the query and the product description or the page’s metadata, and a match depends on product copy describing the product in the same or similar way. Sounds complex, right?

This is where visual search wins over, keyword searching.

Photo Search in e-commerce: Playing it Wise

The e-commerce market is expanding fast and influences up to 56% of in-house sales. While digital commerce continues to re-invent itself, matching the changing consumer preferences, we may take a look at what the online retailers up to. Major global players like Amazon, eBay, Pinterest have already implemented offering visual searches. Zalando and ASOS, two big retailers in Europe are also offering visual searches to their shoppers.
Target’s In a Snap image-recognition app, which is compatible with the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch, the application lets users shop for Target items from online magazine sites and even printed ads, minus the hassle of scanning barcodes, looking up links or searching store shelves for the perfect product.

According to 2017 report by PCWorld, by 2020, nearly 6.1 billion people in the world will own a Smartphone, making way for more digital shoppers. The report also forecasted that 80% of all search queries are going to be either through images or speech.

Visual searches are here to stay. The coming years will see more brands and retailers will turn to visual search as an effective e-commerce tool. Photo-shopping apps will soon become visual search engines for online shoppers of tomorrow giving a stiff competition to Google or Bing.

I am keen to hear if you have implemented any type of image search into your e-commerce platform or if you have thought of implementing photo search functionalities in your website.

Leave a comment below to let me know!