Regardless of how tough it might get under certain circumstances, the truth is we must always stay open to welcoming newer things in life. This allows us to look beyond what we are able to see at a given time, therefore setting the perfect stage for us to grow. Now, it’s easy to just say out these things, but a lot rides on how we implement whatever change that is appearing on the horizon. As intelligent as they are known to be, humans can take up a good idea and botch it completely. On the other hand, we can also create something special out of an avenue that didn’t quite look so promising before. The biggest example for the latter category is, of course, technology. Technology did have some potential right from the get-go, but no one could have imagined it achieving the stuff that it did. Today, the creation has established itself in every aspect of our lives, and one major proponent it is using for maintaining that stronghold seems to be social media. However, even these cutting-edge social media platforms are now venturing into different areas to enhance the user experience. We clearly saw one permutation of their efforts in a recent announcement made by Snapchat.
Snapchat has officially introduced some upgrades to its current artificial reality shopping setup. According to the details shared so far, the updates talk at length to new AR lenses, which are specifically designed for functioning in real-time and work directly with company’s product catalog. Such a dynamic will segway us into another major feature of the update. This one concerns the brands, as catalog-powered shopping lenses can enable them big time in terms of generating quick insights, and consequentially, make their R&D and the advertisement procedures more consumer-centric. Before unveiling it in front of the world, Snapchat enlisted many companies, including Ulta Beauty and MAC, to test the new AR lens. Ulta reported a $6 million increase in sales, along with 30 million try-ons over two weeks. MAC, on the other hand, witnessed purchases among women climb up by 17 times. The company also saw a 2.4X rise in brand awareness, while its customers’ purchase intent went up by 9 times.
“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,” said Jeremi Gorman, Chief Business Officer of Snap.
Snapchat’s growing attention towards AR is pretty evident. Recently, the company invested $124 million in acquiring Fit Analytics, a startup that helps consumers find from online retailers clothes and shoes that properly fit. It partnered the move with the launch of creative studio called Arcadia, which basically helps Snapchat in commercializing its AR efforts through productive brand collaborations.