How AI is improving e-commerce sales by analyzing product images for audience relevance

In the world of e-commerce, digital images are paramount. A new platform uses artificial intelligence (AI) to give brands the ability to assess visual content “through the eyes” of their target audiences in real time.

Vizit, a provider of image analytics software for global brands and retailers, uses the organic interactions millions of consumers have with online commercial imagery to generate new AI-based patterns of their preferences. lenses, called Vizit Audience Lenses. The goal is to ensure that the images a brand uses to represent its products online are effective in capturing the attention of the desired audience and triggering sales conversions.

Vizit is the latest addition to the crowded digital shelf space, which refers to where products are made visible and available for purchase online. This includes a brand’s own product pages, as well as third parties, social media, banner and mobile ads, and Google.

The digital shelf is considered one of the most critical elements of e-commerce, and as brands look to cut costs, advanced AI predictive image analysis allows them to quickly assess performance an image on different channels and better understand customer expectations.

Vizit today announced a $10 million Series A funding round, led by Infinity Ventures and Brand Foundry Ventures, to grow its visual brand performance platform. The round also added new investors eGateway Capital and several CPG, retail and technology executives, with participation from existing investors including Lakefront Partners and Lubar and Co., the company said.

How Vizit Predictive Image Analysis Works

Vizit Founder and CEO Jehan Hamedi told VentureBeat that 99% of brand marketers and e-commerce leaders are probably unaware that they have a problem with their digital images.

“And many of them could leave millions of dollars on the table as a result,” Hamedi added. “Imagine a world before Google; companies didn’t know what their search ranking was or how important the search ranking metric was to their digital success until it was available. Then a whole new economy sprung up overnight to account for and optimize those metrics. »

That’s the idea behind Vizit scores, which are generated once users upload images to the Vizit platform, Hamedi said. The software automatically analyzes these images using AI models called AI Audience Lenses, which visualizes and evaluates them for the intended audience.

Proprietary scores are generated in real time with automated, predictive image analytics via a web interface. The scores are designed to reveal which populations the image appeals to, what drives their preference and where attention is drawn, he said.

For example, “Imagine that you are a brand marketer, e-commerce leader or designer at L’Oreal and you want to know if your product images and designs will be successful in attracting and converting a given audience”, like millennial consumers, says Hamedi. “You may also want to know what visual trends are in your category and what your competitors are doing that resonates with your target consumers.”

The Vizit platform aims to make this possible, he said.

“Clients use Vizit’s AI image analysis to assess the quality of their existing images to adjust and improve their images, and to select images that have the highest performance potential with their target audience. for new e-commerce, marketing and product development initiatives,” Hamedi said. .

The goal is to provide predictive insights into how consumers will react to content, how brands’ content performance stacks up against competitors, and what design elements will capture a viewer’s attention. target audience, will make products stand out on the digital shelf and promote category dominance. e-commerce conversion levels.

Brands Succeed with Vizit’s AI Platform

“Before Vizit, Mars never had a way to determine which images and design elements help convert,” said Roman Vorobiev, global director of design and illustration management at Mars Inc., in a statement. “Vizit gives us a foothold to measure the relevance and effectiveness of our images to our audience, and we’ve proven that higher Vizit scores on our content lead to up to 30% more units sold at main retailers.

Mars now reports its Vizit scores in nearly a dozen countries, Vorobiev said.

Vizit has corporate clients in 10 countries across a range of industries, including several of the top 10 food and beverage companies, the largest motorcycle maker and the world’s largest cosmetics and beauty company, according to the company. .

“Every industry you can think of depends on successful visual communications and visual brand building,” Brian Spaly, general partner of Brand Foundry Ventures and founder of Bonobos and Trunk Club, said in a statement. “Vizit has forever changed the way products are marketed, market research is conducted, campaigns are created, new products are designed and brands are built.”

Hamedi said that with the Series A funding, Vizit will continue to invest in expanding the platform’s capabilities to serve its Fortune 100 customers and grow Vizit’s international presence.

Be seen on the digital shelf

For companies like Vizit to gain traction in digital shelving, they will need to deliver a better online shopping experience than their competitors by understanding customer needs and optimizing their pages accordingly, according to the analytics firm. Similarweb web in a blog post.

There are several ways to achieve this, including investing in SEO for better visibility, focusing on the right digital shelf metrics, and improving visual content.

“You might have a great brand and fantastic products, but those two things alone won’t guarantee you’ll conquer the digital shelf in 2022,” Similarweb said. This requires “a strategy that directly addresses digital shopper behavior and discovery idiosyncrasies in the digital shopping space.”