Poshmark Takes on Google and TikTok With Gen AI Visual Search Update

Poshmark is the latest retailer to step up its AI game with generative AI-powered visual search to help sellers sell more items faster on the platform. The online fashion resale marketplace is expanding its Posh Lens image search tool—which launched in 2023 and has indexed over 100 million items—with gen AI. This lets sellers snap a photo of an item—or even a selfie in the outfit—and have the platform automatically generate a product listing, the company’s chief marketing officer Steven Tristan Young told ADWEEK at Shoptalk 2024 in Chicago. “AI's value is to help the seller sell and price more effectively," said Young. “This makes the listing faster, easier, and more powerful." The company has been developing this technology for a year and a half. The gen AI Posh Lens is slated for a Q1 launch next year. Visual search tech is growing into an increasingly competitive AI race. Google updated its Google Lens capabilities this month, while TikTok added visual search capabilities to its shop this summer. Pinterest, like Google, has long had visual search capabilities. Poshmark's automation pre-fills details like product descriptions, brand, color, and price based on current and historical market data, while sellers can edit the AI-generated suggestions. Previously, shoppers could use Posh Lens as they would Google Lens, to find matching or similar products across categories like clothing, shoes, and bags. The AI push comes after Poshmark was acquired by South Korean search engine Naver for $1.2 billion in 2023. Naver, which is developing a Korean alternative to OpenAI, integrated its large language model (LLM) into Poshmark, so the resale platform can layer its dataset onto Naver’s AI. “Part of the strategy for them buying us was to give us its technology, both search, and AI, and leverage that,” said Young. As of October 2023, Poshmark has 130 million registered users across the U.S. and Canada, the company said. “Retailers that fully integrate AI into both online and offline experiences will lead the pack,” said Jeremy Goldman, senior director, client briefings, at Emarketer. “Those that don’t [will] be left behind, still trying to catch up in a world where AI is rewriting the rules of retail.” As retailers experiment with gen AI, they see its potential to improve both in-person and online shopping experiences. For instance, Target's Store Companion chatbot launched in June, while Amazon's AI assistant, Rufus, debuted in February to assist shoppers with product comparisons and order management. Best Buy also introduced a gen AI virtual assistant in April for troubleshooting tech issues. Smaller retailers are also adopting gen AI: German fashion retailer Zalando launched its AI-powered fashion assistant in 2023, where customers can discover products through a chatbot. “AI is taking retail back to personalized, concierge-style experiences—only now, it’s at scale,” said Goldman. “Gen AI can optimize the shopping journey at every touchpoint, from product discovery and customer service to backend logistics like inventory management."

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Poshmark Takes on Google and TikTok With Gen AI Visual Search Update

The gen AI-powered Posh Lens, helping sellers sell faster, will roll out in Q1 2025

Trishla Ostwal

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Trishla Ostwal