Amazon, Snap Pair On Visual Commerce

Snap announced that it is testing out a new way to search for products on Amazon using the Snapchat camera.

“It’s super easy to use. Simply point your Snapchat camera at a physical product or barcode, and press and hold on the camera screen to get started,” Snap said in a press release. “When the item or barcode is recognized, an Amazon card will appear on-screen, surfacing a link for that product or similar ones available on Amazon. Tap your selection to visit the Amazon App (if you have it installed on your phone) or Amazon.com, where you can complete your purchase or keep browsing.”

The company added that it will roll out the new feature slowly.

The news comes after it was reported that the backlash to the Snapchat redesign continued to depress user figures in the second quarter of 2018, with daily active users declining 2 percent year over year in Q2 to 188 million.

“This was primarily driven by a slightly lower frequency of use among our user base due to the disruption caused by our redesign,” CEO and co-founder Evan Spiegel said during the post-earnings conference call. “It has been approximately six months since we broadly rolled out the redesign of our application, and we have been working hard to iterate and improve Snapchat based on the feedback from our community.”

However, the company still beat analyst expectations and earnings in its latest financial report. Revenue increased 44 percent year over year in the second quarter of 2018, reaching about $262 million, while international revenue accounted for 33 percent of total revenue — representing a 26 percent year-over-year increase. Advertising revenue posted a 48 percent year-over-year increase, to $260 million.

In the future, Siegel revealed that Snap plans offer more products centered around augmented reality. One current example is Lens Explorer, a tool designed to make it easier to find lenses created by other Snapchat users. “We also released Snappables, new augmented reality experiences that can be shared with friends,” he said.