--- title: "Visual search for fashion e-commerce: when it helps · We Wear" description: People who start from a photo or screenshot cannot find the product with words. Where to put visual search on your site, what to prepare and how to measure it. image: https://wewear.tech/hubfs/Immagini/web/VisualFlow.jpg --- Virtual Fitting & Size, size recommendation and virtual try-on  · [Book a free demo →](https://wewear.tech/en/contact-us?hsLang=en) [![We Wear](https://wewear.tech/hubfs/wewear_2025/images/logo_white.png)](https://wewear.tech/en?hsLang=en) - Products ▾ [SizeFlow size recommendation](https://wewear.tech/en/sizeflow?hsLang=en) [FitFlow Virtual Try-On](https://wewear.tech/en/fitflow?hsLang=en) [3D Configurator Real-time customisation](https://wewear.tech/en/3d-configurator?hsLang=en) [AI Studio AI content production](https://wewear.tech/en/ai-studio?hsLang=en) [StyleFlow Automated AI outfits](https://wewear.tech/en/styleflow?hsLang=en) [VisualFlow Visual search & shop the look](https://wewear.tech/en/visualflow?hsLang=en) [ScanFlow Video body scanning](https://wewear.tech/en/scanflow?hsLang=en) [3D Body Scanner Body scanning booth](https://wewear.tech/en/3d-body-scanner?hsLang=en) - [Clients](https://wewear.tech/en/#clienti) - [Contact](https://wewear.tech/en/contact-us?hsLang=en) [Request info](https://wewear.tech/en/#contact)[Book Demo](https://wewear.tech/en/contact-us?hsLang=en) [IT](https://wewear.tech/it/blog?hsLang=en)EN Products [SizeFlow](https://wewear.tech/en/sizeflow?hsLang=en) [FitFlow](https://wewear.tech/en/fitflow?hsLang=en) [3D Config.](https://wewear.tech/en/3d-configurator?hsLang=en) [AI Studio](https://wewear.tech/en/ai-studio?hsLang=en) [StyleFlow](https://wewear.tech/en/styleflow?hsLang=en) [VisualFlow](https://wewear.tech/en/visualflow?hsLang=en) [ScanFlow](https://wewear.tech/en/scanflow?hsLang=en) [3D Scanner](https://wewear.tech/en/3d-body-scanner?hsLang=en) Navigation [Clients](https://wewear.tech/en/#clienti)[Contact](https://wewear.tech/en/contact-us?hsLang=en) [Book a Demo](https://wewear.tech/en/contact-us?hsLang=en) [IT](https://wewear.tech/it/blog?hsLang=en)EN [We Wear Journal](https://wewear.tech/en/blog?hsLang=en) # Visual search for fashion e-commerce: when it helps October 17, 2026 A shopper sees a jacket on Instagram, takes a screenshot and opens your site. She searches «short brown jacket» and gets thirty results, none of them like the one she has in mind. Words are not enough to describe an image, and people who start from a photo give up before finding the product. This guide covers when visual search helps a fashion store, where to put it and what to prepare. ## How people search from a photo Many fashion purchase journeys start from an image: a post, a photo of a friend, a screenshot from a video. The shopper knows what she wants but not what it is called: the cut, the exact colour, the fabric. Turning all that into keywords is where many give up. ## Text search and visual search - **Text search** works when the shopper knows the product's name or category and the catalogue uses the same words. - **Visual search** starts from the image and looks for products that resemble it in shape, colour and details, without the shopper having to describe them. They are not mutually exclusive: visual search covers the cases where words do not help. ## Where to put it on your site - **In the search bar**, with an icon to upload a photo or a screenshot from the phone gallery. - **On campaign and lookbook photos**, to make the items in the image shoppable. - **On the product page**, to show similar alternatives when an item is not available in the size or colour wanted. The most common use case is on mobile, where the phone gallery is at hand. ## What to prepare Visual search works on your catalogue images, so result quality depends on them: sharp photos, clean backgrounds, the garment clearly visible. You also need an up-to-date product feed, with images linked to each reference and correct availability. ## Sold-out items and alternatives If the item in the photo is sold out, visual search can suggest similar products from the catalogue. This is where it avoids the dead end: instead of «no results», the shopper sees alternatives close to what she was looking for. ## How to measure whether it works With an A/B test: part of the traffic gets visual search, the rest does not, over the same period. You look at conversion among people who use the search and on the pages involved. We explain how to set it up in the guide on [A/B testing for fashion e-commerce](https://wewear.tech/en/blog/ab-testing-fashion-ecommerce-how-to-measure?hsLang=en). For campaign photos there is also the guide on [shop the look](https://wewear.tech/en/blog/shop-the-look-shoppable-campaign-photos?hsLang=en). Module details are on the [VisualFlow](https://wewear.tech/en/visualflow?hsLang=en) page. ## Frequently asked questions ### What is visual search in e-commerce? It is search that starts from a photo or screenshot and suggests the catalogue products that look most alike in shape, colour and details, without the shopper having to describe them. ### Where should visual search go on a site? In the search bar with an icon to upload a photo, on campaign photos to make them shoppable, and on the product page to suggest similar alternatives. ### What does VisualFlow need to get started? Your product feed with its images; the We Wear team runs the visual indexing of the catalogue during setup. ## Want to see it on your catalogue? A 30-minute call: we show you the module on one of your products and how to measure its effect with an A/B test. [Book a demo](https://wewear.tech/en/contact-us?hsLang=en) [← All guides](https://wewear.tech/en/blog?hsLang=en) We Wear Technology for fashion retail: size recommendation, virtual try-on, 3D configurator. 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