Snap on Monday announced a new visual search tool for the company’s Snapchat app in partnership with Amazon.
The visual search will allow Snapchat users to point the app’s camera at an item and quickly find it on Amazon and buy it straight from the social-messaging app, the company said in a blog post on Monday.The new feature is rolling out to only a small percentage of U.S. users as an initial trial run. Snap declined to share precise user numbers or any details on the financial relationship with Amazon. But the retail giant currently pays out 1% to 10% commissions, varying by product category, to websites that refer customers to its online marketplace.
“It’s super easy to use. Simply point your Snapchat camera at a physical product or barcode, and press and hold on the camera screen to get started,” Snap said.
The stock jumped about 3 percent on the news, and is now up up a little less than 1 percent on the day.
Snap’s stock is down more than 35 percent since the start of 2018.
Scott Galloway, a professor of marketing at the NYU Stern School of Business and founder of the research firm L2 Gartner, sounded a cautionary note, citing Amazon’s track record of putting partner companies out of business once it figures out their business model.
“Amazon partners with firms the way a virus partners with a host,” Galloway said. “It doesn’t usually end well.”
