In upcoming years, online shopping is predicted to become more brand-driven, sensory, accurate and focused on mobile activity. Consumers are increasingly using their electronics for all types search purposes by means of giving search commands by voice, capturing specific elements of their surroundings or using specialist search engines for browsing specific products (Boyd, 2018).
Relevant examples of the usage of specialist or vertical search engines are Skyscanner or social platform Pinterest. Pinterest contains around 2.5 billion objects across home and fashion pins which makes great possibilities for product matching and opens doors for monetization opportunities.
Another development in search, namely Voice-based searching, allows users to converse with search via voice. Applications range from mobile phones to voice assistants like Google Home or Amazon Alexa.
While voice-based searching is already ingrained in the population, another sensory searching method, image-based search is paving its way for fully user integration. As the human brain is very visual, it tends to identify images quickly (Davinson, 2018). Visual search engines rely on neural networks through artificial intelligence that recognizes patterns within the image and matches these to what it has previously learnt. One of the first adoptions, Google Lens, uses camera-based search that uses ‘style-matching’ feature to give users the possibility of what they captured and browse related items through the web (Morris, 2019).
From a branding perspective, it is becoming more important to be consistent, recognizable and a findable brand. Image-search is not only a breakthrough for retailers but also the SEO industry. Brands should not only focus on SEO but also VSO, vertical search engine optimization. By integrating VSO, which is the indexing and exposition of content on a site, category or industry in combination with advertising through that platform, it will reap the most benefits from search.
Through the 3V’s namely; vertical, voice and visual search, the industry will become an omnipresent channel that enhances customer experience and give them more choices and ultimately let them make better decisions (Betts, 2018).
Betts, A. (2018). The future of enterprise search. [online] Available at: https://www.searchenginejournal.com/future-of-enterprise-search/260871/#close
Boyd, C. (2018). The Future of Search 2019 and beyond. [online] Available at: https://medium.com/@clarkboyd/the-future-of-search-2019-and-beyond-f9625a04ceeb
Morris, G. (2019). Visual, Voice & Vertical: The Next Generations of Search. [online] Available at: https://blog-digital.travelport.com/visual-voice-vertical-the-next-generations-of-search
Davinson, C & Sulivan, R (2018). Visual search: The natural evolution in how we search for information. [online]. Available at: https://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/visual-search-natural-evolution-search-information/1492127
