Snapchat launches ‘shoppable ads’

Snapchat has announced a suite of all-new in-built e-commerce features, including a visual search feature in partnership with Amazon.

The launch includes four brand new e-commerce advertising features for retailers, including Shoppable Snap Ads, Advanced Pixel Targeting, 40 + new Snapchat Partners and Product Catalogues as well as a visual search feature launched last week.

In the product catalogues features, retailers will be able to import existing catalogues to Snapchat to then upload them to various ad formats such as a story or snap ad.

The Shoppable snap ads feature, due to launch in October, will see retailers able to advertise on the platform and have consumers linked directly to their site, while advanced pixel targeting will see advertisers able to track consumer actions on their websites.

As part of the changes, a number of new marketing agencies have joined the Snap Partners program to help retailers build advertising campaigns on the app.

The news comes after the social giant last week launched Visual Search – a feature which allows users to snap products using their camera to prompt an automatic search through Amazon.

“When the barcode is recognised, an Amazon card will appear on-screen, surfacing a link for that product or similar ones available in Amazon,” according to a statement from Snapchat.

The new features will be a huge boost for retailers, with Wish.com earning a 17 per cent higher engagement rate with Shoppable Snap ads compared to Snap aps and eBay seeing five times the engagement, according to Snapchat.

The series of brand-new features will enhance the app’s e-commerce repertoire and comes just a week after the company’s competitor Instagram branched out its e-commerce features.

Associate Professor Sean Sands, co-director at CXI Research Group at Swinburne University said the move is good news for retailers and “makes sense” given the number of millennials which utilise Snapchat.

“This is a natural evolution for Snapchat to move towards e-commerce. They’ve trialled interesting concepts in the US already. The best one I’ve seen is the release of Air Jordans. It makes sense it’s a space where millennials are spending a lot of time,” he said.

“Why not build up the communications and connections between relevant brands and those consumers.”