From now on, users in the United States will be able to visualise an item in their own home before purchasing it – a considerable boon for live shopping, the top trend of the year on online platforms.
The new feature is called “Try On for Home Decor”, Pinterest’s new augmented-reality tool, which works with Lens, its visual search tool. The feature has the simple aim of making it easier to buy home decor and furniture items on the platform.
For now, only items from US retailers such as Walmart, Wayfair, Crate & Barrel, CB2 and West Elm are available via the tool, Pinterest said. Still, this covers more than 80,000 products.
“The tool is one of many examples of how our brands are exploring innovative solutions to make this journey as intuitive as possible by bridging the gap between virtual commerce and reality,” said a spokesperson for Crate & Barrel.
A hit with Gen Z
AR shopping is a market in which Pinterest intends to play an important role. The social network already launched two “Try On” augmented reality tools – one for lipsticks in 2020 and one for eyeshadows in January last year.
This has been a success, according to Pinterest, which points out that users are five times more likely to buy from pins that work with the “Try On” tools than regular pins. In fact, “Try On for Beauty” usage among Generation Z and Y increased by 28% and 33%, respectively, between 2020 and last year.
Nine in 10 users already use Pinterest to search for ideas before finalising their purchases. Searches via the Lens camera tool have even increased by 126% in just one year, while the number of users who engaged with shopping spaces also saw 32% growth.
With the pandemic, people have increasingly looked to online platforms to make their purchases remotely – a trend that has won over internet users. Shopping on social networks could even reach US$1.2 trillion (RM5 trillion) by 2025, research suggests.
Twitter, YouTube and TikTok have all been dabbling in live shopping, which could, in turn, represent a US$423-billion market next year in China.
Some 40% of consumers have used their smartphones to shop online since the pandemic began, reports Foresights Factory’s Collison platform.
Plus, 46% even say they cannot do their shopping without their phone, a figure that rises to 50% among Generation Z and Y consumers.