Pinterest introduced Lens, a mobile app that uses the phone’s camera to recognize physical objects and pull up related items from Pinterest. Lens focuses on objects appearing within a circular window — likely to reduce the signal-to-noise ratio. And then presents tags that it associates with the object(s) as well as relevant pins from its platform. Pinterest had teased the product in June 2016 when it announced enhancements to its visual search tool.
Pinterest’s Lens app is still in testing but will be available to iPhone and Android owners in the US sometime soon. Pinterest claims the company’s technology is able to recognize more than 1 billion objects.
As Lens extends Pinterest’s search chops to the real world, the company is also extending search beyond the query bar on its own platform.
Pinterest’s new Shop the Look feature turns items appearing in pins into products people can buy. Relevant products will be highlighted with a blue circle that people can tap to see related products that are available for purchase. It will appear either on Pinterest or through a brand’s own site. CB2, Macy’s, Neiman Marcus, Target and Wayfair are among the first brands to market their wares this way on Pinterest.
Source: Marketing Land (8 Feb 2017)
