Pinterest experiments with augmented reality

After Pinterest became the third-largest social media platform in the US at the beginning of the year, the company is currently enjoying momentum. The US company now seems to be capitalising on this - and is immediately launching an augmented reality test run. In future, Pinterest users will be able to try on certain products virtually before buying them.

Augmented reality applications have become an integral part of marketing. The new Pinterest function is called "Try On" and is also based on augmented reality technology. In concrete terms, this means that users can test or try on a product virtually, i.e. using their smartphone camera, before it ends up in the shopping basket.

It all starts with a lipstick

At the beginning of the test, this is only possible with lipstick colours, but more functions are to follow. "Millions of people" search for beauty ideas on Pinterest every month, the company explains. Augmented reality is intended to make the selection process easier for them. However, the "Try On" function for lipstick colours is currently only available in the USA on iOS and Android, but is set to be introduced worldwide in the future.

To use the new feature, one needs to open the Pinterest camera in search, click Try On to find different shades and upswipe to go to the shop of brands such as Estée Lauder, Sephora, Bare Minerals, Neutrogena, Lancome and Urban Decay. Pinterest has announced it will also integrate the skin tone filter feature, allowing users to see similar lip colours on different skin tones to match their own.

Always stay authentic

The aim is for "users to be their authentic selves", which is why the platform has not integrated any artificial face-editing filters. "With Try on, you look like yourself: without any skin-smoothing or altering effects (as are commonplace with some other augmented reality technologies)," the press release states.

Pinterest has recently experienced strong growth. According to E-Marketer, the platform had a total of 82.4 million monthly active users in the US at the end of last year. Snapchat only had 80.2 million. This is the first time that Pinterest has had more US users than Snapchat. The reason for this is the recent strong growth of 9.1 per cent, in contrast to Snapchat's growth of just 5.9 per cent.

Pinterest also has big plans for the advertising market. Philip Missler, Head of DACH and Northern Europe since April, leaves no doubt that he is aiming for the big budgets: "Many of our advertising partners are working with us to build a scalable business. They wouldn't be doing this if they didn't see Pinterest as an important partner for the future," said the former Amazon manager in summer 2019.

Source: Horizont / T3N / digitaltrends