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Snapchat will let you shop on Amazon using its camera

The visual search tool can recognize products and barcodes.

Snapchat will soon let you use its camera to shop for products on Amazon, following reports that such a tool was on the way. When you point the camera at a product or barcode and hold your finger on it, an Amazon card will pop up when the tool recognizes the item.

The card displays a link to that product or similar items on Amazon. When you tap it, you'll be redirected to the product page on the Amazon app or website (if you don't have the app installed). Snap is testing the tool this week with a small percentage of users, and the company will slowly roll out visual search to everyone. The feature adds more functionality to the camera, which also lets you identify music through Shazam.

With Snapchat losing three million daily users in Q2, Snap will be looking for ways to turn around its fortunes, and perhaps an ecommerce function will help. A study commissioned by Snap found that Snappers in the US are 20 percent more likely to have purchased something using their phone than those who don't use Snapchat, while they're 60 percent more likely to make impulse purchases. So there's evidence to show that Snapchat users will actually buy products through the visual search tool, with Snap presumably taking away a cut of any sales.