Walmart Launches Visual Search Tool TrendGetter

Walmart has launched a new visual search tool in the height of holiday shopping season, providing shoppers another option to discover products on Walmart.com.

Using image recognition technology, TrendGetter helps shoppers find items for sale through an image. Consumers can visit TrendGetter.com and take a picture of an item or upload it from their device.  TrendGetter then finds similar items at “great prices” on Walmart.com, according to a statement from the company.  

“Now, whenever you find a product you love, you can easily search for a similar item at Walmart’s everyday low prices and purchase as soon as inspiration strikes,” the retailer said.

TrendGetter uses Google’s Vision image recognition technology to help customers find products or products of a similar style or trend within Walmart’s vast catalog of items. The company facts state that Walmart will only use the photo shoppers upload to conduct the visual search of its product catalog, and once completed the photo will be deleted.

The move comes after Etsy launched a similar feature last month for users of the Etsy iOS app. The retailer gave shoppers the option to tap a new camera icon in the search bar and upload or take a photo, causing Etsy to find items that are visually similar. Etsy built its proprietary image search feature from the ground up, leveraging the company’s first GPU-backed service, according to sister publication Chain Store Age.

RIS TECH TRY

Below RIS tried out TrendGetter, using a photo of a Lamps Plus Lamp. The TrendGetter website advises shoppers to keep it simple, get close, and avoid dark or shadowy images. The latter may be why the photo of a gold lamp returned white lamps. However, we found the upload process was quick and easy.