Visual is the new “Buy”
Purchasing online was always about the vision. Whether it was the looks of the product or the page’s interface, our greed & trust were build on vision basis. Following that trend, we can imagine technology coming hand to hand with our e-commerce need. Most of the online experience is based on the sense of sight, and we have some apps that will keep you covered in the search for a perfect product.
Pic or didn’t happen
With a few words of introduction — visual content online is easy to find, and we have tools to promote the natural next step — sales. But what happens if we notice our dream-item outside the virtual world? Remembering the product’s name, asking where it was purchased comes in handy, but you also have an option to search for the product yourself via mobile apps. Just grab a picture of the item that’s interesting for you, and click search — the widest online base, such as Amazon, will provide you with a similar product, it’s pricing and a “buy now” button. Artificial Intelligence build in the apps can do magic based upon a picture, and find the most similar image, to the one uploaded. Will this be a revolution in online sales?
The power of image
Revolution took place already, when the internet world was introduced to Google Image Search. Pinterest loupe works in a similar way, searching for patterns and product lookalikes, to transfer it to true e-commerce & shopping carts [link]. But, applications such as Amazon, Realtor or Pounce have turned the perspective on to real-time things. When being online, the most intuitive search would lead you to typing, rather than uploading images. That’s why the key gamechanger is the offline-to-online perspective, where word research would take longer to perform the adjusted result. Codebar, a box or a shape would be recognised by applications, that are ready to scan the internet for a match. This approach provides a true mobile experience: imagine being in a different country and seeing a shirt that would suit perfectly. What’s easier than taking a picture?
Nailing jello to a wall
Talking to people. That’s what’s easier than taking a picture, googling & checking the correctness with the search engine. Forget the Human-Computer Interaction, it’s the Human-Human that comes first: you can not only “browse” for the product’s name but be assume to be sure on the informations about the place of the purchase, price and details. Here, the crucial information would be asking for recommendation, colours and maybe in-store promotions. That’s why a human being will be doing so much better on the search — the personal approach is just there, right on the spot, as well as the price and cart too. Will apps replace that kind of experience? No, not really. We still prefer the personal comments, advices, guidelines — we search for them online on Facebook, via phone or on Quora, so our contact is mediated by new technologies, but we are not yet ready for full virtualization.
