Snapchat’s adding yet another string to its in-stream commerce bow through a new partnership with global eCommerce top brand Amazon. This new partnership will see thousands of Amazon’s top-selling eyewear models added as Snap Lenses for virtual Try-On in the app. The ‘Amazon Fashion’ profile in the app will now feature a wide range of virtual try-on choices for eyewear, essentially acting as a complementary channel for online purchases of the same via Amazon.
As Snap explains:
“The new Snapchat try-on Lenses feature thousands of Amazon’s popular eyewear products, enabling Amazon brands to leverage their Amazon AR assets and showcase styles in a fun, interactive experience to millions of Snapchatters.”
To The Amazon!
Snap says that customers will be able to explore, shop, and digitally try on thousands of eyewear styles directly in the app. The end goal is for shoppers to ‘seamlessly purchase in the Amazon Fashion store’. The process works in partnership with Amazon’s recently launched AR Try-On display options for glasses in its app, with retailers now able to pair their AR creations across to Snap as well, maximizing reach.
“More customers are turning to mobile shopping – in the past year, Amazon Fashion customers ordered more than one billion fashion items on mobile devices. The growing Snapchat community of 363M daily active users now have access to Amazon’s popular eyewear brands, including Maui Jim, Persol, Oakley, and Costa Del Mar, among others.”
This is one of the key opportunities for AR, acting as a supplementary channel for testing out items that you’re looking to purchase online. The downfall of online shopping is that consumers can’t actually see the item and get a sense of what it would feel like. AR is the closest we come to simulating such and while it may be fairly limited at present in terms of scaling and realism, the technology continues to evolve, with improved LiDAR detection in newer phone models now facilitating all new options for AR simulation tools. Snapchat will no doubt be looking to lean into this and has even begun developing more advanced AR models to provide more product display options and enhanced virtual experiences.
The Wrap
As technology presses forward, you can bet that Snap will continue to add in more AR shopping enhancements along similar lines, improving the overall user experience and contributing to the overarching push to achieve more immersive and seamless virtual interactions, with integrated commerce and shopping capacities to really mark the next stage of connection. If Snap succeeds, then it would have already taken the first steps toward the next iteration of the internet.
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