Bing and My Virtual Model Visual Search

Bing Visual Search is making the news! For us at MVM, seeing the words "Visual Search" marketed by Microsoft means that the idea is catching on. Bing tells everyone what My Virtual Model believes since a long time. Searching is visual, like in "looking for".

People asked us what's the difference between Bing and My Virtual Model Visual Search. At this time, it’s important to note that differences may be less relevant than goals and objectives.

My Virtual Model devoted 10 years of research in online fashion marketing and we draw some interesting conclusions about visual search. Like text-based search, a visual search solution must provide a way to enter queries and do something with the results. What really makes them two separate engines, though, is that people don't expect visual search to yield the same thing as keyword search engines. If they were the same, why switch to the new gizmo?

Text-based search can easily find pictures using keywords. Visual search uses key images to find matching attributes. The key image concept is what makes MVM Visual Search so easy to use. It fills the gap between experts and novices, following the WYSIWYG rule. To use My Virtual Model Visual Search, people do not have to know about keywords and attributes. They just pick and choose what they like to see.

For text-based search, it is assumed that people know how to read and write, so that's probably what they want to do with the results. If they are searching for an image, they want to see it, right? Wrong. There's a second part to this story.

Delivering pictures to users is not enough. People ought to be able to do things with them. A true visual search solution must provide a graphic interface to use the results. Basic image search would only display results on web pages and provide links to follow. Visual Search extends from 2D to 3D space where users can organize things visually and see how they fit together. Like words, foods or clothes, images take new flavors from their neighbors. Mixing and matching them while searching for the next missing thing is what makes MVM Visual Search a complete user experience.

While developing our 3D shopping engine for apparel retailers, My Virtual Model came across the issue of visual search quite naturally. But rather than adding "visual" in front of "search", we found ourselves with an overwhelming wealth of "visuals" in need of a state-of-the-art "search". Fortunately, MVM staff comprises a few fashion experts and patternmakers mastering the field. They provided the knowledge necessary to build the MVM Key Image Pictionary.

Then the mix-and-match issue came up: how to allow 2D pictures to share the same 3D space as My Virtual Model. And there, we were fortunate again to borrow our solution from Louise Guay's seminal Ph.D. thesis, "The Pocket Museum" (1986) where she described the multimedia experience as collage in a social communication environment. I think people should know how fortunate we are.

Back to Microsoft and Bing. It becomes obvious now why traditional search engines have so much trouble delivering a great shopping experience to users. Don't take me wrong, this situation may change very soon. Search engines are focusing on advertising revenues, leaving the shopping experience to retailers. In the not so far future, successful online retailers will be focusing more on publishing accurate and timely product feeds, leaving the experience part to vertical shopping engines. Shoppers are already expecting search engines to provide that kind of service. And every retailer knows that traffic is not born from their brand alone but mostly from these search engines.

So search engines who want to grow their share of advertising revenues should prepare to hire taxonomists and user experience specialists. Merchandisers need visual shopping engines that deliver highly qualified customers passed the revolving doors, right in front of their products.