News

Same visual search used by eBay and Art.com now available to any site

September 5, 2011

Picitup, a developer and provider of computer vision solutions, has announced the launch of PicCommerce, a suite which adds visual shopping functionally to any site. The technology indexes and interprets images similar to the way Google indexes and interprets text. Previously, Picitup visual search powered only top tier customers including eBay, Art.com and Shopping.com. With the release of PicCommerce, powerful features like shop-by-color and shop-by-photo are within the reach of any online store.

Until now, shoppers at most online retailers could search only with text or meta tags because the image-recognition technology for searches was out of reach for all but a few large companies. Visual product search capabilities enhance the shopping experience and increase customer engagement and revenue for any online marketplace. According to the company, clients are reporting double-digit increases in the average number of page views per user.

"We found that integrating Picitup's image recognition technology was the best fit to develop Art.com's Visual Search capability. At Art.com we are committed to transforming the way the world discovers and experiences art, and Visual Search added a new dimension of discovery and engagement for our customers," said Roberto Mameli, VP of engineering at Art.com Inc. "With Visual Search we witnessed an increased level of engagement on our site and are helping our customers explore, discover and ultimately purchase the perfect piece of art. In fact, we recently introduced more advanced features such as Match My Image, Inspire My Discovery and artMatch for the iPhone which all leverage Picitup's image recognition technology."

The company says PicCommerce provides a richer shopping experience for online shoppers. For example, shopping by color makes significant improvement over the in-store experience of asking a sales clerk to find an item in a particular color. PicCommerce is faster, more accurate, and more comprehensive. Clicking on the widget's color patches allows online shoppers to match available colors – including color combinations – through an instant image search on the store's product catalogue.

The PicCommerce suite consists of three products: