Snapchat updates its AR shopping feature

In 2021, Snapchat will not feature in the top 5 most downloaded applications. This means that the application is no longer able to attract new users to Snapchat. To remedy this and stay in the competition with other social networks, the little ghost needs to renew its features to make users want to download the app and stay with it, and that means AR shopping.

AR shopping: a feature that attracts users and brands alike

Snapchat's AR shopping has been around for a while now, but it was still quite limited in its capabilities. First of all, here is a little explanation of this feature.

AR shopping uses augmented reality try-on which allows users to try products (clothes, make-up, accessories, jewellery) directly on themselves using augmented reality technology. Many brands have already understood that try-on is a new way of convincing users to buy online in a more seductive and fun way. For users, try-on allows them to try products directly on themselves and to be able to project themselves with them in reality. This feature is reassuring for consumers who can make sure before buying that the product corresponds to their expectations and not be surprised when they open the package.

Snapchat is the leader of social networks in terms of augmented reality. Indeed, it invests more and more money every year to improve the user experience. AR shopping is therefore a logical continuation of the application's technological advances and Snapchat does not intend to stop there.

Indeed, at the very beginning of this feature, AR shopping did not exist but it was possible to try on branded clothes and accessories directly on oneself. Later, Snapchat developed this try-on with the possibility for brands to add a call to action that led directly to the brand's website to order the product. At the same time, Snapchat announced its desire to further develop AR shopping to create a real brand catalogue.

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A product catalogue of brands available on Snapchat thanks to AR shopping

At the end of January 2022, the AR shopping feature evolves once again and now offers a catalogue of products from brands directly when you try AR shopping.

Each brand can now offer clothes and accessories in try-on with the possibility of putting the price, description and a link that redirects directly to the product sheet on the e-tailer's site. Thanks to this, the conversion is therefore stronger and it also allows brands to recover data that they can use to retarget users with more personalised ads.

In the image, you can see that the Zenni brand offers its 3D glasses on Snapchat. The try-on on the application is very well developed, the glasses are very well made and fit perfectly on the user's face.

A feature that will take up a large part of the Snapchat interface

With this new update, Snapchat wants to become a unique marketplace through augmented reality. Jeremy Gorman, Snapchat's Chief Business Officer, explains in an interview: "Augmented reality is changing the way we shop, play and learn, and changing the way organisations tell their stories and sell their products.

Snapchat also allows users to scan everyday objects to find out where to buy them. This feature is, for example, to recognise the make and model of a watch and to suggest similar or identical watches on the internet.

We can therefore guess that this scan could one day link directly to products available in Snapchat's AR shopping without going through an external search engine.