India’s online marketplace Flipkart has started rolling out image search on its mobile app to improve the shopping experience.
Instead of typing keywords, users can upload photos of fashion items and find similar products in terms of color, pattern or style inside the Flipkart merchandise database.
Users browsing Flipkart's catalogue can find visually similar products with a single tap. The app becomes a virtual "shop assistant" who would show products of same color or design when users see something they like.
Machine intelligence pioneer ViSenze is providing the technology for visual search and image recognition.
"We're very excited to partner with Flipkart and offer their users an enhanced shopping experience powered by our visual search,” said Oliver Tan, CEO and Co-Founder of ViSenze.
The company originates from a R&D spin-off from the National University of Singapore, and develops highly advanced visual search algorithms, combining state-of-the-art deep learning with the latest computer vision technology to solve search and recognition problems faced by businesses in the visual web space.
It provides its visual technology APIs through a Software-as-a-Service offering to online retailers, content owners, brands and advertisers, app developers and digital publishers, enabling their platforms to recognize products for retrieval purposes or instant purchases.
Other companies using the service include Internet retailers and marketplaces like Caratlane, Zalora, Reebonz, and Rakuten Taiwan, as well as patent search engines like PatSnap.