Highlights:

  • With the help of these technologies, customers may virtually try on apparel, accessories, and shoes before making a purchase on a retailer’s website.
  • Fit Finder, which offers buyers recommendations for apparel size and fit based on artificial intelligence, is the first service provided to merchants.

The maker of the video messaging app Snapchat, Snap Inc., has recently unveiled the creation of a new branch that will sell augmented reality solutions to companies and merchants for integration into their apps.

ARES, or Augmented Reality Solutions for Business, will let companies incorporate Snap’s AR features into their applications and websites to draw in users and create more engaging user experiences.

Snapchat has long been well-known for its augmented reality features, which let users view digital information superimposed on the real environment. Users can alter their appearance, add cartoon characters to their movies, and other things with this technology. More than 250 million people utilize these AR features in the firm’s apps on a regular basis, according to the company.

The “Shopping Suite” features, the first to be made available for ARES, are intended for stores and allow users to virtually try on items, assess fit, and browse products in 3D.

Retailers will be able to sell apparel and other stuff to their clients more simply if they have access to these potent tools since they will enable them to interact with the products through the web and mobile virtually.

Head of ARES at Snap, Jill Popelka, said, “Over the last decade, we’ve been hard at work bringing fun and personal AR experiences to Snapchatters. In the next decade, we’re excited to take our world-class AR technology to businesses’ websites, apps, and even into their physical locations.”

The first feature offered to stores is Fit Finder, which provides customers recommendations for apparel size and fit based on artificial intelligence. Since not all brands fit precisely the same, it can identify buying habits and give customers a better and more personalized fit based on what they’ve previously purchased. This allows customers to feel more at ease with the items they buy.

Moreover, Snap provides a virtual clothing Try-On that uses AR to account for the customer’s body type, shape, and curves. This tool lets customers submit a photo of themselves to see how the product or garment will appear on them when they wear it. Users may also choose models whose appearances are comparable to their own features.

Users can also use virtual try-on within the app to see how eyewear and footwear will appear on their faces and feet because it integrates with proven product photographs. With the help of a collaboration between Amazon.com Inc. and Snap, consumers could try on several eyeglass brands inside Amazon Fashion using this feature.

The usage of a 3D Viewer by brands will also enable customers to completely comprehend a product without having to scroll through a succession of photographs. Through an app, users can then flip a soft toy, pair of sneakers, or piece of pottery around with their virtual hands to get a closer look. As a result, consumers can examine the complete object more thoroughly like they could if they were in a physical store where they could hold it in their hands.

The 3D modeling companies Vertebrae, Fit Analytics, and Forma are just a few of the acquisitions Snap has made in the last two years that contributed to the development of these features.

Women’s clothes and fashion retailer Princess Polly Online, eyewear brand Goodr, and Mongolian maker Gobi Cashmere will be some of the first users of the ARES toolkit. According to Snap, merchants’ clients saw increased conversions and decreased returns after implementing AR solutions.

Goodr’s Co-founder and Chief Executive, Stephen Lease, said, “Implementing Snap’s Shopping Suite, particularly AR Try-On and 3D Viewer, resulted in overwhelmingly positive feedback from our customers and a considerable uptick in sales, closing the gap between what our customers expect their Goodrs to look like and how they actually look.”