AI is about to make your product photos very important
How do consumers shop for nameless items? They can’t just search “jeans – you know the ones” or “that sweater from Gilmore Girls.”
When words fail, Amazon won’t. In further innovating StyleSnap, a.k.a the Shazam for clothes, Amazon is leveraging another tool to entrench its dominance in the fashion industry.
Consumers upload a photo, and StyleSnap will use AI to find similar looks available on Amazon.
Amazon along with many other retailers has been developing image search functionality for several years. Companies like Syte and Mai have been using this technology – sometimes boosting ROI by an average of 423%.
The problem with AI is that the intelligence needs many examples to learn from. So in the early stages, it kind of sucks.
Poor robot…it’s probably like a new college grad trying to find a job posting that doesn’t require a minimum of 10 years of experience in a similar field.
Developers of Amazon’s general image search are focusing on building tools for specific use-cases like StyleSnap to separate itself from the pack.
Here are a few you may not know about:
- Search by Image Picture or Photo: Created to help you figure out the author, artist, location, etc. of a piece of art and then help you buy it.
- Part Finder: Developed to help you find buddies for the odd nut, bolt, screw, etc. laying around your house.
- Augmented Reality: Targeted at the home furnishings industry, this allows you to replace your imagination with the almost-real deal by virtually placing an item in your home.
Whether you currently sell a product that aligns with one of the above tools or not, you need to make sure your imagery is top-notch so you’re benefiting as the tech advancements start rolling out.
53% of online shoppers say images inspire them to purchase. So take a nice picture; it might be worth 1,000 words…or dollars.
