Visual search makes shopping smarter and simple, continues to gain ground

At the recently announced Q2 results of Google and Alphabet, CEO Sundar Pichai announced that people are using Google Lens to conduct visual searches more than 8 billion times a month. (However, a break-up of this figure by geography was not available.)

Pichai also said that Google’s new feature, Multisearch, which helps people find what they are looking for through the use of images and text, is also gaining ground. “Later this year, Multisearch will be able to help people find local results near them,” he said.

Pichai added, “We see hundreds of millions of shopping searches on Google Images each month. Merchants will soon be able to submit 3D images of their products to appear directly on Google Search, so customers can try before they buy.” 

Visual search, which allows users to discover products by clicking on a similar-looking picture, has been around for a while and has been used by Google, Amazon and Pinterest. But only now have a rising number of people begun using this mode.

In April, Google announced the launch of Multisearch, which uses both text and images for improved search. With Multisearch in Lens, people can go beyond the search box and ask questions about what they see. Of course, all of this is made possible by the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in search.

Though Multisearch is now available only in the US, visual search is gaining ground in India too, and, following the global pattern, it is e-commerce players that are using it to improve the shopping experience.

India’s largest e-commerce player, Flipkart, had launched image search a few years ago but usage has picked up only now, with internet penetration in the country increasing.

“We have been testing Image search on the Flipkart app as a feature and have seen great initial results. Some of the use-cases we have observed include customers wanting a similar-looking product but finding it difficult to express this by typing, or wanting to explore a look created by a celebrity,” says Anand Laksminarayanan, Flipkart’s senior vice-president, shopping experiences. He adds that for categories such as fashion, lifestyle, jewellery and beauty products, image search can add a lot of convenience for customers, “who may find it easier to do image searches than write descriptive queries”.

Laksminarayanan notes that the customer ecosystem is more mature now, with higher internet penetration, availability of better smartphone cameras, and customers’ affinity to click images.

“Image search in today’s context will be a big enabler for consumers in fulfilling their evolving and aspirational needs. With internet penetration growing and e-commerce becoming a way for customers to shop, especially in emerging cities, it is becoming important to solve customers’ experience journeys,” he adds.

In a country such as India, where text search has limitations, voice and image search can not only cut through language barriers but also allow users to use search in a more meaningful way.

“One of the interesting trends we’ve observed in search is that visual and voice search helps in the discovery of relatively newer categories like books, grocery, pet supplies, electronic and mobile accessories, musical instruments and sports and fitness,” says Sanjeev Barnwal, founder and CTO, Meesho. “Another trend is that the voice search feature has witnessed higher adoption among our new users and contributes about 25 per cent to their total search volume.”

At Meesho, the visual or image search feature has been available for over two years now. And it has helped the discoverability of hyper-local businesses and products. Barnwal notes that visual search is very useful for customers on its platform, because they are from smaller towns.

“This feature has certainly simplified the e-commerce experience of our customers in tier-II+ areas, where image and voice search features are relatively more helpful than text search. A majority of our users come from tier-II+ cities, where voice search, especially in regional languages, is generally used as a substitute for text search. Image search, on the other hand, helps in the discovery of a product without the need to know its name or description,” he adds.

The global visual search market is projected to surpass $14,727m by 2023, growing at a compounded annual growth rate of 9 per cent between 2018 and 2023, mainly driven by advancements in technology and the rapid adoption of visual search engines in the e-commerce industry, according to a report from IndustryARC, a market research firm.

At present, visual search is most used by the e-commerce and fashion industries, but it has the potential for use in segments such as original equipment manufacturing, electronics, baggage scanning, and component manufacture, among others.

According to eCommerce Personalisation Trends 2022, a report by Netcore, a customer engagement platform, only 8 per cent of retailers offer image search on their websites. Netcore’s research revealed that 71 per cent of online shoppers use the search function frequently, and 27 per cent always use it. These users avoid wasting time browsing. They know what they’re looking for, and if you can help them find it, you’re more likely to win their business.

“Generation Z, in particular, is hungry for this kind of speed,” the report said.