“[It’s] something that we’ve been preparing for for many years,” Carolina Arguelles, global AR product strategy and product marketing lead, told WWD.
Arguelles broke it down further: Accessories, like sunglasses from Goodr, offer a live view so shoppers can try them on in real time. Others, like the sweaters on Gobi Cashmere, work by seeing the clothes overlaid on top of still images of preset models in different sizes and body shapes or on top of uploaded selfies — at least for now. There are distinct challenges in representing fabric and its physics across different body types, but Snap is working on it.
Notably, brands don’t have to invest in scanning equipment or other ways to capture their merchandise. Snap can take the same 2D product images they already use in catalogues, apps and sites and feed them into their AI-powered imaging system to pump out 3D versions. So Camera Kit is an important basis for ARES and Shopping Suite, but there’s a lot more, she added. “What we learned is that a retailer needs a specialized customer support team that knows how to integrate with commerce back-ends, a retailer needs specific technology solutions for them and their problems that they’re trying to solve, such as fit and sizing in addition to AR try-on.”