Snapchat isn’t just focused on further developing its Lens and special filters and effects but is also looking to improve its AR tools to augment its eCommerce opportunities as well. Snapchat is adding new ‘Catalog-Powered Lenses’ to enable brands to showcase their respective range of products within a single Lens, providing users with more virtual Try-On options.
Snapalogs
Based on examples, the new option will make it easy for Snapchatters to quickly test out various products within a single Lens promotion. Each displayed item would include product details, along with the price, supplying direct reference within the app.
As the name suggests, Snapchat’s Catalog Lenses will be directly linked to a company’s product catalog, providing campaigns with an expanded capacity for product displays, while simultaneously aiding Snap to deliver direct, product-aligned feedback to brands in real-time. If, for example, you notice that one product is seeing more attention than the rest, then that could prompt you to further promotions on that specific product, or at least direct your experiments to arrive at more desirable results.
In the same way, the process also supplies Snapchat with more user-specific product insights, gleaning information as to what product each user is engaging with more, further helping out its ad targeting systems and subsequently improving the performance of campaigns. To add, Snap’s also wants to make it easier for brands to create shopping AR Lenses by updating its Lens Web Builder tool, adding new templates to help further refine the process.
The new tools look to enable brands to build AR experiences through the use of pre-made functions, making the creation process a simple point-and-click. As Snap puts it:
“We’ve now made it so brands can generate a commerce Lens in as fast as two minutes and Beauty brands can do so in just a few clicks. At launch, this quick click accessibility in Lens Web Builder will be available to Beauty brands and will roll out to other product verticals in the coming months.”
This is a significant advance towards the next stage of Snap’s AR commerce, where this update looks to resolve the primary issue of most brands not having the adequate resources to build their own AR experiences. This would thus allow such brands to be able to leverage off of the evident value of AR promotions, with 71% of Snapchatters regularly engaging with its AR tools and over 100 million consumers already shopping with AR.
The Wrap
If Snap can ‘Democratize’ the process by making it easier for all brands to participate, then that’ll put it up front for most retailers, potentially giving Snap’s ad options a huge boost from all the increased attention. Despite still being in limited capacity, at least for now, you can see the potential that simplified AR creation tools can offer to businesses, allowing them to more easily lean into emerging AR trends, adding a lot of brownie points to Snapchat if it manages to deliver.
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