Snap Adding ‘Shop Now’ Button To AR Lenses

Snap, the maker of the Snapchat disappearing messaging app, is reportedly adding a “Shop Now” button to its app, enabling users to shop without leaving the platform.

According to news from Business Insider, the button aims to give marketers more reason to advertise on the platform. The button is available on its “Shoppable AR” lens product.

“Shoppable AR Lenses give brands a new way to leverage our unique scale to drive real and measurable ROI [(return on investment)], whether that’s through sales, downloads, lead gen or video views,” said Peter Sellis, Snap’s director of revenue product.

While advertisers view Snap as a leader when it comes to marketing with augmented reality (AR), marketers have complained that they can’t measure the return on their investment in terms of purchases that come from the AR Lenses. For instance, do barfing rainbows and dancing tacos actually drive sales? Snap hopes to change that through its new “Shop Now” button.

Snap isn’t the only company eyeing AR as a way to increase advertising revenue. According to Business Insider, Facebook recently launched an AR platform for developers — as have Apple and Google. While Snap won’t say how much advertisement money comes from its augmented reality lenses, the company’s Chief Executive Officer Evan Spiegel said on an earnings conference call that its Lens Studio feature, which lets users create AR with desktop tools, is resonating. The report noted that Coty, Adidas, King and STX Entertainment will all launch shoppable AR lenses. Coty and Adidas are running AR product trials and linking to their own websites while game maker King is running a Candy Crush AR experience to increase installs of its app. Meanwhile, STX is linking its AR lens with a trailer to a new movie.

“With this move, Snap is now providing brands the opportunity to not just drive engagement with AR Lenses, but also seamlessly drive them to commerce,” said Chris Murphy, head of digital experience at Adidas U.S. in the report. “We no longer live in a world where it has to be either brand or commerce; consumers don’t think that way, and neither should we.”