Snap Tests Next Stage of In-Stream Commerce with New Product Stickers for Snaps

Snapchat continues to make gradual shifts into eCommerce, and the facilitation of product display and purchase in all new ways, this time through the addition of new product stickers for Snaps, which will guide users through to purchase pages for the actual items.

But first, a quick recap – back in April, at its annual Partner Summit, Snap announced a coming ‘Dress Up’ element for the app, which would facilitate more product discovery by putting dedicated focus on its various shopping and try-on tools.

As you can see in this example, ‘Dress Up’ will be somewhat similar to Instagram’s Shop tab, given its dedicated product focus, but it’ll be a more advanced, AR-aligned version, with a range of digital products on display that you can then overlay onto your own, real world scenes.

That’ll provide another option to check out how the actual products might look on you, or in your home, etc.

And now we’ve got a first look at how the Dress Up process will work in the app.

As you can see in these screenshots, posted by user @peplm on Twitter, some Snap users now have access to a new product sticker tab in the app, which includes a range of digital items that you can then add to your content.

The new product stickers are sorted into brands, with the majority, at least at present, being clothing and accessory businesses. Tap into these brand sets and you can select specific products, which you can then add as stickers to your Snap frame, and which users can then tap on to learn more about the item or make a purchase.

We asked Snapchat about the addition, and it provided this statement:

“We’re constantly looking for new ways to prompt discovery on Snapchat. As part of that, we’re in the early days of testing Dress Up Stickers, where Snapchatters can find, try on, and shop real products from brands they love. While only available to a small number of Snapchatters at the moment, Dress Up Stickers will eventually live in a new Dress Up Stickers tab ‘hanger’ icon inside the Sticker Picker in preview after taking a Snap.”

So, it’s not available to many users as yet, but eventually, this will become Snap’s new Dress Up element, which will provide a new way to virtually try on clothing and other items, by placing them in-frame.

It’s an interesting take on in-stream shopping, utilizing a more interactive approach, which could help users create more engaging, interesting content, while also offering new promotional potential for brand partners.

But we don’t have a lot to go on as yet. There’s no info, for example, on how brands can get their products listed, and how they can link the stickers through to their websites for purchase. Snap will no doubt provide more info as the option sees a broader roll out, but it could be another consideration for brands looking to maximize product discovery, especially among younger audiences that are more aligned with AR usage.

Indeed, Snap says that 250 million of its users (72% of its total DAU count) now engage with AR elements in the app every day.

Combine that with new, interactive product stickers and it seems like it could be a big winner, helping Snap to both encourage UGC and facilitate product discovery in the app.

It’s likely worth keeping tabs on at the least – we’ll keep you updated on any new developments with the offering.