Snapchat Unveils Exclusive Augmented Reality (AR) Shopping Features in Singapore

Snap, parent company of Snapchat and a world leader in augmented reality (AR), hosted its first AR Shopping Lunch in Southeast Asia, to unveil unique fashion and beauty AR features available on Snapchat. For the first time ever in the region, Snap also showcased its AR glasses, the next generation Spectacles.

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Selected guests had the exclusive opportunity to experience the fashion, beauty, and shopping features through interactive try-on corners. Participating brands included Prada, MAC, Zenni, FARFETCH, amongst others.

Snapchat’s event and latest Lenses come amidst the increasing use of AR – over 6 billion users play with AR Lens every day, and 250 million engage with AR every day.

Globally, 92% of Gen Zs are also interested in using AR for shopping and Snapchat is the #1 platform where Gen Z enjoys sharing purchases they love or when shopping.

Kathryn Carter, General Manager, APAC at Snap Inc said, “We are thrilled to be hosting our first in-person event in Singapore to show and share the power of AR. Augmented reality experiences are personal, immersive, and interactive in a way that other brand activations simply can’t be. For brands, it is the most personalized, immersive way to engage consumers and let them try their variety of products, at their convenience. What’s even better is that our AR Lenses reduce returns, which is a huge benefit in terms of cost savings and the environment.”

She further added, “The AR features we’ve showcased today are just some examples of how Snap is constantly working to tap the immense potential and opportunities in AR, seamlessly marrying the needs of brands and evolving preferences of consumers.”

Snapchat’s leading features in augmented reality

In 2015, Snapchat launched AR Lenses as a way to make Snaps more fun and entertaining, encouraging Snapchatters to communicate with their real friends, and not have to worry about just taking a feed of perfect photos. Fast forward to today, as of July 2022, more than 250 million Snapchatters have engaged with AR shopping Lenses more than 5 billion times. Snapchat is also ranked the #1 platform for sharing shopping moments.

Snapchat recognizes that AR has the potential to transform the way people shop by:

• Making shopping more personal, accessible, and fun, instead of forcing users to scroll small photos of model images that can’t tell how something would look on each person.
• Putting friends at the core of each experience, allowing users to get real-time feedback from friends regardless of where they are.
• Making shopping more sustainable by reducing the need for product returns, sanitary hurdles of testing beauty products, and awkwardness in using public dressing rooms.

Studies have also shown that AR-guided purchases lead to a 25% decrease in returns, while interactions with products with AR have a 94% higher conversion rate. Here’s how Snapchat is revolutionizing the way consumers shop with AR:

1. Lenses for shoppers

AR shopping on Snapchat offers consumers the ability to try on and experience products from makeup to sunglasses to sneakers. Guests were introduced to the AR try-on mirror, where they experienced some of the latest AR Lenses in collaboration with fashion and beauty brands.

For the first time, Snapchatters can try on a new outfit without having to change their clothes. To access 2D Try-On, users can start by taking a few full body photos in any outfit. The computer vision technology will complete the job, applying the product image onto the photo instantly, as if the user is wearing the garment.

 

These shopping lenses continue to resonate with the Snapchat community. According to a global shopping study, 1 in 4 shoppers said they would actually prefer to use AR to try on clothes virtually rather than visit a store to do so in real life.

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Make-up artists were also present at the event to give guests an interactive experience by comparing the superimposed images created by AR Lenses to how the products look in real life. The demonstration showed the potential of AR lenses in replicating makeup looks realistically.

To try out the Lenses showcased at the AR Shopping Lunch, simply click on the camera and scan the below codes to access the try-on features.

1. AR capabilities for brands

 Dress Up:

 Snap recently announced Dress Up, a new, dedicated destination on Snapchat. Dress Up invites people to browse, discover, and share new looks from around the world, bringing together the best of AR fashion and try-on experiences from creators, retailers and fashion brands all in one place.

When Snapchatters head to the Dress Up tab, they’ll see a collection of digital fashion and beauty experiences, ranging from fun branded Lenses that let you shop for products on the spot as well as creator-made Try-on Lenses that celebrate experimentation and self expression. Snapchat’s new 2D Try-on experiences can also be found within Dress Up.

With Dress Up, Snapchatters can easily return to the products they love, and update their shopping preferences easily via their profile settings.

AR Image Processing:

 AR Image Processing allows businesses to leverage existing product photography they have produced for their ecommerce websites and transform them into turnkey AR-ready assets for Snapchat AR try-on Lens experiences. Through this technology, shoppers can try on even more outfits more easily, from the comfort of their own home, simply by taking a full body selfie.

The Lenses use a cutting-edge image processing technology to apply the product image onto a photo instantly, as if the user is wearing the garment. The goal is for users to go from thinking “This looks good” to “This looks good on me.”

1. Spectacles Demo

 Snap believes that the future of consumer computing lies in wearable AR. Attendees were able to get first-looks of the Spectacles and during the event, they explored the different capabilities of the Spectacles.

The next-generation Spectacles are Snap’s first pair of glasses that bring augmented reality to life. They’re lightweight AR display glasses, made for creators to overlay their Lenses directly onto the world, exploring new ways to fuse fun and utility through immersive AR. They’re some of the lightest and brightest on the market.

1. Pixy

Pixy was revealed during the event for the first time ever in Southeast Asia. Pixy is a pocket-sized flying camera to bring the Snap camera to new heights. With the simple tap of a button, Pixy flies in four preset flight paths. It can float, orbit, and follow wherever the user leads, without a controller or any set-up.

Pixy is a companion to Snapchat. Videos from flights are wirelessly transferred and saved into Snapchat Memories. From there, users can use Snapchat’s editing tools, Lenses, and Sounds to customize the images and videos captured.

AR is making the shopping experience more personal, sustainable, and accessible. As such, Snapchat aims to be the most fun place to discover, try on, and share products with friends, investing in ways people discover AR shopping – to make it a natural, daily behavior.

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