Amazon Launches AI-Powered Shopping Feature in App

Amazon.com launched an artificial intelligence-powered shopping feature in its app called StyleSnap at the re: MARS 2019 conference in Las Vegas yesterday. The tool enables users to upload a photo or screenshot of a particular fashion look they admire from pictures on magazines, websites or social media posts, and then get similar product recommendations from Amazon's apparel assortment. StyleSnap launched for select users on iOS and Android in April, and will soon be available broadly, Amazon Head of Worldwide Consumer Jeff Wilke said during a keynote presentation at the conference.

Here’s how it works: A user clicks the camera icon in the upper right-hand corner of the Amazon app, and selects the “StyleSnap” option. Then, after uploading a photograph or screenshot of a fashion look, StyleSnap presents recommendations for similar items on Amazon that match the look in the photo. When providing recommendations, StyleSnap considers a variety of factors such as brand, price range, and customer reviews. The app uses “image recognition and deep learning to ID an apparel item and recommend similar items,” Amazon wrote in a blog post.

Total Retail's Take: The SnapStyle announcement is yet another step toward for Amazon toward an AI-powered fashion future. StyleSnap's debut comes days after Amazon teamed with L’Oréal to let mobile shoppers test out different shades of lipstick on live pics and videos of themselves, courtesy of the latter’s AI and augmented reality ModiFace platform. Also, two years ago, Amazon debuted the Echo Look, a connected camera that combines human and machine intelligence to recommend styles, color-filter clothes, compare two outfits, and keep track of what’s in personal wardrobes. The Echo Look ties into Prime Wardrobe, a program akin to those offered by Stitch Fix and Trunk Club that lets users try on clothes and send back what they don’t want to buy. It will also be interesting to see whether consumers use SnapStyle once it's launched more broadly. If they do, it could give Amazon a boost in its apparel business, a growing category for the online behemoth.