Dive Brief:

• Amazon Fashion is leveraging Snapchat’s augmented reality Shopping Lenses to enable the app’s users to virtually try-on thousands of eyewear brands and styles available from the Amazon Fashion store, per details shared with Marketing Dive.
• Snapchatters will also be able to purchase and share their glasses across the platform. Brands on Amazon can leverage their Amazon AR assets to showcase styles to Snapchat users.
• The eyewear activation is the first virtual try-on experience to come out of a growing partnership between Amazon and Snapchat parent Snap, as the companies noted they plan to expand into additional verticals in the future.

Dive Insight:

For Amazon and Snap, the activation is the largest AR shopping experience at scale for both companies, per a press release. Brands like Ray-Ban, Maui Jims, Oakley’s, Persol and more will be featured in the Shopping Lenses for Snapchatters to virtually try on. Snap introduced the ability to link its AR lenses to online product catalogs in August. 

Creating the shoppable experience required establishing 3D asset standards so that Amazon’s asset library could be easily integrated with Snap’s AR technology. By creating that standard, brands can not only build and execute the lenses quickly, they will be dynamically updated, providing shoppers with up-to-date information, product details and availability.  

Virtually trying on clothing and accessories is one of the myriad ways marketers and platforms are trying to create more mobile shoppable experiences. In the past year, Amazon Fashion customers ordered more than one billion fashion items on mobile devices, per the release. One way to reduce the friction from consideration to sale is to use augmented reality. 

According to Snap, the virtual try-on experiences on its platform lead to higher purchase intent and sales lift over video spending. In addition, 80% of shoppers felt more confident in their purchases after incorporating the AR features.

Shopping Lenses have been used more than five billion times in the past year for actions such as trying on makeup, shoes and watches, according to Snap. 

The virtual try-on for Eyewear is not Amazon’s first attempt at AR-fueled product testing. Earlier this year, the company launched a virtual try-on experience for shoes. Walmart also launched its own virtual try-on for athletic wear earlier this year, and American Eagle is expanding on its Snap shoppable experiences.

The interest in AR-fueled shoppable experiences couldn’t come at a better time for Snap. The company is facing dwindling revenue prospects as Apple changes its privacy standards. To make up for the anticipated decline, Snap is prioritizing its efforts around augmented reality, which has been one of the app’s historic strengths.