Search by Image, the most intuitive shopping experience
According to MIT, 90% of information transmitted to the human brain is visual. For this reason, 50% of consumers claim to be more drawn to image based content and prefer it over text. Given that their content of choice is visual, it can be safely assumed that they would prefer to shop using visual means as well. One of the main technologies that has been successful in enhancing companies online platforms is a feature called Search by Image or Visual Search.
20% of advertisers believe search by image is the most important tech trend for business in 2019
With a vigorous rise in technologies, we find all companies swiftly undergoing internal digital transformations in order to keep up with the modernity marathon. Companies of all industries have been yearning to maintain a level of innovation and relevance to distinguish themselves from competition and remain ahead of the game. All market level companies, from mass market brands to luxury brands, have been triggered by the urgency of the dynamic renovations, and forced to board the train with the threat of losing significance and awareness. With this, it has been found that 21% of advertisers believe visual search is the most important tech trend for business in 2019.
What is Search by Image?
In order to better explain this feature, let us consider a few scenarios. Imagine that a shopper spots a stylish pair of shoes worn by the person seated by them at a restaurant. Or a shopper is watching a movie and grows obsessed with an actor’s outfit during a scene. Or a shopper is scrolling on social media and envies a follower ́s professional work blazer. Before technologies were introduced, the solution to finding similar items was a rigorous process composed of typing in keywords into search engines, scrolling through brand catalogues, or walking around stores trying to spot lookalikes. Even if these processes resulted successful, the shopper still ran the risk of finding the items either in a store they normally dislike, with a price-tag above their desired range, or in a version that doesn’t necessarily fit their personal taste.
Fortunately, Search by Image solutions wipe away all this hassle and eliminate the troubling process for customers. Based on the situation, this new feature allows customers to instantly capture images of any fashion item they encounter, by either snapping a picture on their smartphone cameras or taking a screenshot of a digital image on their electronic devices. This would allow them to immediately upload the image on the individual applications of their favourite brands and search for similar recommendations that are more customised to their personal preferences. Of course, the brand has to offer this solution and adopt the technology on their digital platforms.
Company Benefits
This brings us to benefits of Search by Image in terms of brand perspective. Based on the above examples of customer pain points throughout the shopping process, the benefits of the Search by Image features are easily deductible. For starters, this type of technological adaptation helps improve the company’s progress towards an innovative and complete digital transformation. Second, it simplifies the customer ́s research for desired items by removing any required human interaction and replacing it with fully automatic image recognition technologies that are designed to easily detect several different items in a picture. Thirdly, it acts as a magnet between the customer and the brand, allowing inspiration to drive awareness, and eventually, lead to high conversion rates.
By 2021, early adopter brands that redesign their websites to support visual and voice search will increase digital commerce revenue by 30%. Fashion is evolving and Search by Image is the first step into the future, making images shoppable, shifting the act of shopping from physical to visual.
