There have been rumblings about Farfetch bolstering its visual search feature for several months now. In October, Digiday reported that Farfetch was working on in-house visual search technology. On Friday, the company announced an in-app, iOS visual search feature.
The feature lets customers upload pictures from anywhere, which the app will then analyze and serve up either the specific product or something similar. The move is meant to improve discovery and give customers a reason to shop with Farfetch for a product, even if they discovered it outside of the e-commerce platform.
“Our private clients are already using images to plan their shopping across the season, to capture things that inspire them and to guide Farfetch personal shoppers, but up until now, searching for products that match has been a manual process,” said Sara Wood, vp of product at Farfetch.
Visual search is becoming an increasingly attractive discovery option for retailers. Instagram has become, by an overwhelming majority, the primary way in which many customers interact with brands. A 2018 report from L2 found that 97 percent of luxury brands’ social media interactions come through Instagram. But that content is not always shoppable. With visual search, customers can find something they like on Instagram, search it through Farfetch’s mobile app, and see not only the original product (if available in the marketplace), but also others like it, so they can compare prices and styles.
“Where people look for inspiration is now so varied, we believe it will really help bridge the gap from the point of inspiration — whether that’s across social channels like Instagram, or via family and friends, or from street style, anything — to the point of purchase on Farfetch,” Wood said.
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