Good morning Marketer, how do you define visual commerce?
Shoppable posts, visual search, branded partnerships, AR experiences – however you define it, one thing is clear: visual commerce is transforming the customer experience in a big way. “The transition that people expected to take four years has occurred in four months,” said Chris Beaudin, director of marketing for Atlatl Software, a visual commerce platform. “It is a drastic mental shift that is now a necessity. A lot of big companies were dragging their feet, making the back end a priority, now they have to play catch-up.”
Visual commerce can be sophisticated, like using a visual digital platform to sell a car, where users can experiment with different colors, interiors, or seating material. It can also be simple – like shoppable media on Instagram or Pinterest.
Whatever you’re selling, there are three fundamental steps of visualization in the commerce process:
| • | Product visualization: Seeing the product |
| • | Visual configuration: Customizing options and features |
| • | Augmented reality: Viewing the product in a custom virtual environment |
“These are all subtle emotional ways to connect with your buyer to influence the purchase, which is your goal as a marketer,” said Beaudin. “They own it digitally so naturally they want to own it physically.”
There’s more below, including news on a new YouTube update for creators.
Ginny Marvin,
Editor-in-Chief
