Slyce Inc., a Toronto-based startup, has partnered with luxury brand Neiman Marcus to launch a new shopping app that’s being called the “Shazam of shopping.”
Branding the new app as “Snap. Find. Shop.,” Neiman Marcus will allow its fans to take pictures of shoes or handbags they like, either in real life or in printed form, like in a magazine. The app then matches the pictures to Neiman Marcus’ products – essentially giving users the ability to visually search for the closest matches of what they like to something offered by the brand.
That’s pretty similar to what Shazam does, actually – its mobile app allows users to search for songs they’re hearing in real life, and then identify them through matching them to the app’s library of songs. And like Shazam, users of the Snap.Find.Shop. app can get links to buy the products they’re interested in, bringing users a new way to shop.
“Today, most online shopping begins with search – either through key words or navigating filters, and as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words,” said Wanda Gierhart, CMO, Neiman Marcus Group, in a statement.
“Visual search removes hurdles, taking you directly from inspiration to gratification. In essence, Snap. Find. Shop. is a revolutionary way to service our customers at any time and any place.”
The new Snap.Find.Shop app will be sticking to shoes and handbags for now, but Neiman Marcus may consider adding more item categories to the app’s functionality in the future.
We’ve written about Slyce before – the startup provides visual search technology allowing users to take pictures of items and then find them elsewhere online. So far, it’s announced a partnership with the Purchase Decision Network, but Neiman Marcus is the first high-profile fashion brand to publically align with Slyce to bring its visual search tech to consumers. It’ll be worth seeing whether the tech takes off among customers – and if other retailers will be following suit.