Google enables shoppable visual search via mobile app
Google is streamlining the process of finding and purchasing items via image-based search on its app.
The tech giant, which initially began connecting its Lens image recognition tool to shopping activities in 2021, is now releasing several new e-commerce features for Google Lens users. Reacting to data which indicates 20% of all Google Lens searches are shopping-related, the company has rolled out the following updates:
Starting Friday, Oct. 4 for Android and iOS devices in select countries, Lens is prominently displaying key information when it identifies the product in a user’s photo. This means a consumer can tap the Lens icon in the search bar and snap or upload a photo to instantly see details like price across retailers, current deals, product reviews and where to buy it in one place.
This capability is supported by Google’s Shopping Graph, a real-time dataset of products, inventory, and merchants with more than 24 billion listings. The result page will also display relevant shopping ads. The new Google Lens functionality is kicking off with top holiday shopping categories like toys, electronics and beauty.
- A new feature called Circle to Search lets Lens users move from browsing the web, watching videos or scrolling social media into image-based shopping without switching apps. Consumers can long press the home button or navigation bar on select Android devices, then circle, scribble or tap a product on the screen to find similar options.
- Lens now makes it possible to search with text and images at the same time. For example, a user could take a photo of a chair with Lens and add words to narrow their search like "brown" or "velvet."
"Google Lens helps people search what they see — with just a quick photo you’re scrolling through visual matches for what caught your eye," Lilian Rincon, VP of product management at Google, said in a corporate blog post. "Lens is used for nearly 20 billion visual searches every month — we see shoppers relying on visual search for everything from exploring outfit inspo and living room decor ideas to identifying an item sitting in the background of a video."
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