Visual search uses artificial intelligence technology to help people search through the use of real-world imagery, rather than through text search. Essentially, this has the potential to change how we discover new ideas and products.
Visual search falls under the umbrella of what is known as “sensory search”, which includes searching via text, voice, and vision.
Although both visual and image search is based around imagery, the crucial difference lies in the fact people use words to conduct an image search, whereas, with visual search, a user uses an image to conduct the search.
One of the most common uses for visual search is Amazon. You have this vase at home and can’t recall where you purchased it. You can scan it with your Amazon app and it can find it easily in their massive database.
Are retailers using this power to help consumers find their items on the vast internet?
According to MIT 90% of the information transmitted to our brain is visual. Makes sense right? Look at the popularity of Instagram a visually driven social media platform.
Google is trying to capitalize on this. They are going to change our search experience to include visual. Gone will be the days when all we see are blue hyperlinks when we enter a search query. Soon we will see the actual image of our search without having to go to the image tab.
Offline Shopping is:
Visual
Dynamic
Serendipitous
Social
It’s great for those ‘I don’t know what I want but I know when I see it’ moments. You can try on clothes, talk to the store assistance and discuss with friends.
Online Shopping is
Convenient
Fast
Clinical
Directional
It caters very well for that 30% of shoppers that know what they want and know how to describe it.
But what about those ‘I don’t know what I want but I know when I see it’ moments? What about trying on new outfits and discussing it with friends?
With visual search, consumers can search on Google with a pattern, a colour, an object or an outfit they like. This will fundamentally change how brands can communicate with their audience.
Visual Search for Retailers
The user can be more specific about their style-based search
Retailers can categorise content based on features and attributes not just keywords
Brands will no longer have to wait for a typed search query. They will pay to get in front of the consumer at the moment of intent through images.
