Snap recently announced the rollout of Catalog-powered Shopping Lenses, a major upgrade to AR shopping, to make AR shopping simpler and more engaging for consumers, and easier to build, scale, and optimize for brands.
The new features include a simplified, more useful AR try-on shopping interface which enables Snapchatters to quickly see product info like prices, descriptions, and unique URLs to purchase with new Lens Product Cards as they try on products. For brands, the updates focus on providing real-time results, such as instant feedback on which products are the most popular. Additionally, Snap is expanding the Lens Web Builder, allowing beauty brands to create Shopping Lenses in as fast as two minutes.
Jeremi Gorman, Chief Business Officer, Snap Inc. said: "Augmented reality is changing the way we shop, play, and learn, and transforming how businesses tell their stories and sell their products. Starting today, our revamped AR Shopping Lenses will mean a more engaging experience for our Snapchat community, and enable a faster, easier way to build Lenses for businesses — directly linking Lenses to existing product catalogs for real-time analytics and R&D about which products resonate with Gen Z and Millennial audiences."
Over 200 million people engage with AR on Snapchat every day – across a variety of personal, fun, and often useful experiences that span commerce, entertainment, education, and the arts. Snapchatters engage with AR more than 6 billion times per day.
Over the past year, Snap has centered on AR shopping as a key company initiative – offering brands real-time AR try-on experiences that reach millions of Snapchatters. From trying on makeup, to shoes, to watches, to glasses, AR shopping is a key emerging part of how our community engages with our app.