This document discusses the growth of ecommerce and visual search technology. It notes that while shopping inspiration comes from mobile devices, most purchases still happen on desktop. Text searches are often inefficient for finding fashion products. Visual search uses image recognition to allow users to search by uploading photos, benefiting retailers through increased sales and engagement. Examples like Zalando show how visual search enhances the mobile shopping experience.

2. KEY POINTS
➔ The Growth of eCommerce
➔ Social Media = Shopping Inspiration
➔ Image Search > Text Search
➔ Use Cases of Visual Search Technology
➔ Benefits of Visual Search Technology
➔ Customer Example: Zalando

3. ● eCommerce sales are growing exponentially year over year
● Mobile phone usage is also going to continue to grow (Mary Meeker’s “Internet
Trends 2017”)
● Although most searches are conducted on mobile devices, checkout
happens predominantly on desktop
● 66% of millennials browse social media for fashion shopping inspiration
MOBILE + SOCIAL MEDIA
ALTHOUGH SHOPPING INSPIRATION LIVES ON MOBILE, MOST
TRANSACTIONS DON’T HAPPEN THERE.

4. THE GROWTH OF ECOMMERCE

5. MILLENNIAL SHOPPING BEHAVIOR

6. ● 21.6% of millennials* couldn’t find
specific products when using their
own search terms.
● Only 2.3% of millennials landed on
first position results with their search
terms.
TEXT SEARCHES ARE INEFFICIENT
*Based on a survey conducted by Fashwell. Survey size: 109 respondents.
SEARCHING FOR PRODUCTS
WITH KEYWORDS IS DIFFICULT
AND OFTEN FRUITLESS.

7. *Based on a survey conducted by Fashwell. Survey size: 109 respondents.
● Brand association is an
important factor in any product
search: Brands were used
13.9%* more often than the
category of a product.
● Even with a long string of
keywords, words do not suffice
to describe the stylistic and
aesthetic quality of a fashion
product.
TEXT SEARCHES ARE INEFFICIENT (cont.)

8. WHAT IS VISUAL SEARCH?
VISUAL SEARCH REPLACES TEXT
AND IS A POPULAR TOOL TO FIND
PRODUCTS MORE QUICKLY.
● Humans process images 60,000
times faster than text.
● Deep learning algorithms are
taught how to “see” like the human
brain sees.
● They are trained with massive
amounts of relevant image data.
● Training continues until the
algorithm becomes an expert in its
particular field.
● Image recognition is a highly
valuable market, expected to grow
to $38.92 billion by 2021.

9. WHO HAS VISUAL SEARCH?
BIG CORPORATIONS
● Pinterest
● Google
● Amazon
● eBay
SMALLER BRANDS + RETAILERS
● Zalando
● Tommy Hilfiger
● Neiman Marcus
● Macy’s
● ASOS
● Target
● Wayfair
Image courtesy of Target.

10. 1. SEARCH BY IMAGE
A process by which a user can search
a product catalog by uploading an
image to an app or site and then shop
the products in the image.
VISUAL SEARCH – USE CASES
2. VISUAL RECOMMENDATION
Upsell and cross-sell on individual
product shop pages with “You May
Also Like” or Out of Stock
Alternatives.
3. SHOPPABLE CONTENT
Publishers, brands or online
magazines can make their visual
content instantly shoppable with
automatic tagging.
4. CHATBOTS
Another way to “search by image”:
Users upload an image to a chatbot
platform and receive relevant product
recommendations.

11. With visual search,
image recognition
technology is used to
extract data points from
an image. In online
shopping, the return
criteria for visually
similar items are based
on the ontology and
attributes of a particular
object. A popular use
case for visual search is
“search by image”, as
demonstrated by this
graphic.
THE “SEARCH BY IMAGE” EXPERIENCE

12. ● Easy Product Discovery
● Greater Basket Size
● Increased Revenue
● Prevent Sales Loss
● More User Engagement
● Better Search Results
● New Revenue Streams
● Upsell + Cross-sell
● Prevent Cart Abandonment
● Higher CTR
… and more!
VISUAL SEARCH – BENEFITS

13. “Mobile shopping has become the new
normal. But when it comes to
shopping, it’s often hard to describe
the product. By using the support of
visual detection, we can maximize the
joy of exploring our assortment by
providing our customers new ways to
search and navigate. The future of
shopping will be about using more
intuitive and natural ways of searching
rather than typing technical terms.”
CUSTOMER EXAMPLE: ZALANDO
– Kristina Walcker-Mayer, Senior Product
Manager for Mobile Apps

14. TAKEAWAY
➔ More time is spent on mobile to source shopping inspiration.
➔ BUT: Getting to checkout on mobile is still difficult.
➔ Using text for searching + shopping is not efficient.
➔ Visual Search creates a link b/w content and commerce,
eliminating the need for text and letting customers shop the
products they want to see.
VISUAL SEARCH = THE FUTURE OF SEARCH & SHOPPING

15. CONTACT
FASHWELL AG
Stauffacherstrasse 106
8004 Zürich, Switzerland
marketing@fashwell.com
partnerships@fashwell.com