Social platform Pinterest has announced updates to its Lens feature, allowing users to shop fashion and home items directly from visual search results.
Working as a visual search tool, Lens allows users to take a picture of something they like in the real world and Pinterest then tells the user what it is and where to find something like it.
According to the platform, Lens can recognise 2.5 billion objects across the fashion and home Pins. Now, users will be able to shop directly from search results or explore products that are visually similar.
According to Roy Morgan data, Pinterest, with over 7.3 million Australian visitors in the 12 months to March 2019, has grown by over 4.6 million (+174.3%) since 2015.
Roy Morgan data further indicates that Pinterest is used by 40% of Australians in Generation X, and almost the same proportion of both Generation Y (38%) and Baby Boomers (38%). A third of Generation Z (33%) use Pinterest and just under a quarter of Pre-Boomers (24%).
Pinterest's investment into the visual search feature comes after research found that 80% of its users start with a visual search when beginning their shopping. The survey also found that when shopping online for clothing or furniture, over 85% of respondents put more importance on visual information than text information.
Advertising agency GroupM's global head of social Kieley Taylor said the improvements can provide significant benefit to brands.
"A picture is indeed worth a thousand words.
"With Pinterest’s investments in pioneering technology, computer vision, and machine learning, Pinners benefit from communicating what they want in an instant, without resorting to obscure strings of terms, hoping that they’ll find what they want.
"We see significant value for brands to tap into visual search on Pinterest as it will allow wider discovery by tastemakers and drive meaningful consumer engagements online and off," she said.
Other improvements to Lens include a more streamlined design, making it easier and faster for users to take, upload and save a photo.