Snap Acquires Fit Analytics to Enhance E-Commerce Integration

Need to Know

• Snap has acquired Berlin-based Fit Analytics, which provides tools that help customers find properly fitting clothing when shopping online.
• Fit Analytics offers a tool called Fit Finder, which uses customer data such as height and weight, as well as machine learning, to recommend the appropriate clothing size to digital shoppers.
• The acquisition was made with the goal of encouraging more in-app purchases within Snapchat.
• Throughout the pandemic, Snap has worked with brands such as Dior and Gucci on AR clothing try-on features.

Analysis

As Snap continues to bolster its e-comm capacities within Snapchat, the company has acquired Fit Analytics, a Berlin-based company that helps customers find clothing that properly fits them when shopping online.

Fit Analytics provides two key tools that are likely of interest to Snap, as the company seeks to encourage users to make more in-app purchases within Snapchat. The first, Fit Finder, uses key customer metrics, like height and weight, to help customers choose which apparel items will best fit them. The second, Fit Connect, amplifies Fit Analytics’ technology by delivering size recommendations and product availability data to product listing pages. Snap is hoping to encourage more users to make purchases directly within its app, and the ability to leverage Fit Analytics tools will improve consumer confidence in purchases made within Snapchat.

More than 100 Fit Analytics employees will join Snap, and the team will work closely with Snap’s product group on developing e-commerce products. In a blog post announcing the acquisition, Fit Analytics said its main goal is “to scale the Fit Analytics business and work with Snap to grow their shopping platform, leveraging our technology and expertise.”

Snap is increasingly prioritizing in-app purchases in part due to upcoming privacy changes to Apple’s iOS, which will make it more difficult to track how well ads from companies such as Snap lead to purchases. The company’s focus on in-app purchases comes as other social media networks, such as Facebook and its subsidiary Instagram, have rapidly bolstered their e-comm capabilities: Instagram recently expanded its in-app shopping tools to Reels and IGTV, while Shopify recently added Shop Pay to both sites, marking the first time Shop Pay is being made available outside of Shopify’s own platform.

The acquisition of Fit Analytics by Snap comes as the company has begun to experiment increasingly with AR shopping and fitting tools, as Snap searches for ways to engage online shoppers while reducing product dissatisfaction and returns. Snap had previously partnered with Dior on an AR lens that allowed Snapchat users to “try on” the luxury brand’s B27 sneaker using an augmented reality lens, and with Gucci on a try-on lens for four of that brand’s shoes. In both partnerships, customers could purchase footwear directly within Snapchat.