Imagine going back in time 20 years with this feature!  Snapchat’s looking to take its AR tools to the next level for eCommerce, with the addition of new ‘Catalogue-Powered Shopping Lenses’, which will enable brands to showcase a range of products within a single Lens, providing more virtual try-on options for users.

As you can see in the screenshot below, the new option will make it easy for Snapchat users to quickly test out different products within a single Lens promotion, with each displayed item also including product details, including price, for direct reference in the app.

Just as it sounds, Snap’s Catalogue Lenses will be directly linked to a company’s product catalogue, providing more capacity for expanded product display in each campaign, while it’ll also help Snap deliver direct, product-aligned feedback to brands, in real-time. The same process also provides Snap with more insight into what products each individual user is engaging with, which will help in its own ad targeting systems, improving the performance of campaigns.

In addition to this, Snapchat is also looking to make it easier for more brands to create shopping AR Lenses, by updating its Lens Web Builder tool with new templates and tools to streamline the process.

As you can see above, the new tools will enable brands to build AR experiences by using pre-made functions, so you can point and click your way through the Lens creation process.

As explained by Snap: “We’ve now made it so brands can generate a commerce Lens in as fast as two minutes and Beauty brands can do so in just a few clicks. At launch, this quick click accessibility in Lens Web Builder will be available to Beauty brands and will roll out to other product verticals in the coming months.”

That’s a significant advance, and really, represents the next stage for AR commerce. While there’s clearly value in AR promotions, with 71% of Snap users regularly engaging with its AR tools, and over 100 million consumers already shopping with AR, a key stumbling block for many brands, right now, is the time and resources required to build an AR experience, which really leaves such only within the domain of big brands.

But if Snap can make the process easier for all brands to participate, that could be very enticing for many retailers, and could see Snap’s ad options get a big boost from increased attention across the board.

It’s still in limited capacity right now, but it’s interesting to see Snap’s continued work in building simplified AR creation tools, which could help more businesses lean into the coming AR shift.

Snap’s already ahead of the curve on this front, and if it can get these new additions right, it could be well-placed to make big money on the next big consumer shift.

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