Pinterest is a content sharing website in its own league, attracting users from all demographics to pin images on virtual boards in the hope they will one day use the craft ideas in real-life.

In recent months, however, the service has taken a more direct approach to shopping, allowing users to access online stores for the items they liked and pinned. Now, Pinterest has announced a new feature.

Soon, users will be able to snap pictures of real-life objects and shop for the desired items online. Filed under ‘camera search,’ the tool is only one of the many shopping options that Pinterest has revealed on Tuesday at its San Francisco headquarters.

According to Pinterest’s president Tim Kendall, this new search feature is meant to allow pinners act on their offline shopping urges with an online tool.

Available in the coming months, the camera search will allow users to snap a picture of an item they see in real-life (like that crazy pair of shoes you saw this morning on the subway) and find similar products on Pinterest that you can buy.

The service has an extra offering for its iOS pinners called ‘visual search’ which is a part of automatic object detection. This tool allows people to use photos as search queries by identifying products within a pin’s image.

To use the option, just tap on the search icon located on the upper-right corner of a pin, which opens a browsing window for detected items. You can also manually drag a rectangular cropper if you want to make a more specific search.

Automatic detection has begun rolling out to iOS users today and the gradual launch will reach all pinners within the next few weeks.

“Shopping with Pinterest is meant to be that bridge between getting inspiration and making it part of your real life,” said Ben Silbermann, CEO of Pinterest.

That gap has been infamously recognized by users who have thousands of clothes items in their virtual closet but who have rarely thought of buying them in real-life.

With more than 100 million monthly active users, Pinterest reported about $100 million in revenue in 2015. The company’s employee count is also on the rise, with about 800 workers in Paris, London, Tokyo, Berlin, and Sao Paulo, in addition to the Pinterest’s San Francisco headquarters.
Image Source: CNET