If Flipkart does it, can Snapdeal be far behind? After Flipkart had launched its image search tool this July, Snapdeal has also come out with its own version. Called SnapSearch, the tool will allow desktop users to upload pictures of clothes they fancy, and will show up suggestions of similar products available on Snapdeal.
Keeping with Snapdeal’s web-first policy, the feature will first go live on Snapdeal’s website over the next few days. “We are launching it first for watches, women fashion, some categories of men’s fashion etc, and will be expanding it to other categories in the near future”, said Snapdeal Chief Product Officer Anand Chandrasekaran.
The feature was developed at Snapdeal’s multimedia research lab, which has $100 million fund earmarked from the company’s coffers. In August this year, Snapdeal had aqui-hired Bangalore-based startup Fashiate which dealt wiwth advanced computer vision and machine-learning algorithms. Snapdeal’s multimedia research lab was founded as a result of this acquisition.
SnapSearch can be used not just by buyers but also by sellers to check similar inventory, proximity-based searches or to check the success of similar items. “There is a lot which can be done through this feature, it all depends on how well it is used,” added Chandrasekaran.
Apart from Flipkart, several e-commerce players including Craftsvilla, YepMe and Voonik have similar image search products on their platforms.