Google is introducing a new AI-powered feature to enhance online shopping by allowing brands to show how clothes fit on various body types and skin tones through AI-generated images. This development aims to alleviate the common challenge of determining how clothing will fit when shopping online, which often leads to uncertainty and frequent returns.
Starting Tuesday, brands advertising women’s or men’s shirts can use this feature to display their products on diverse real models without needing extra photos. While this feature currently only applies to shirts, Google has not yet provided a timeline for expanding it to other apparel items.
For example, searching for “eyelet crop top” on Google could now show an ad with a clickable gallery, illustrating how the item looks on women with different body types and skin tones. This functionality is designed to help shoppers visualize clothing on individuals who resemble them or those they are shopping for, according to Matt Madrigal, Google’s vice president of merchant shopping.
Additionally, Google introduced a new ad format that allows brands to link short-form videos to their advertisements in Google’s search engine, complete with AI-generated text summaries of the clips. “Watching my three Gen Z-ers shop, it’s very video-based,” Madrigal noted, highlighting the relevance of video content in modern shopping habits.
Google also launched a tool enabling companies to create entirely new AI-generated product images using photos from earlier marketing campaigns and brand-representative pictures. For instance, a home goods brand can upload an image of a candle and a beach scene, then request Google to place the candle on a beach under palm trees.
Shannon Smyth, founder of the perfume and body-care company A Girl’s Gotta Spa, started using Google’s AI image tools last year when they were introduced as part of Product Studio. Initially, these tools allowed merchants to change backgrounds and enhance photo resolution. Smyth found these tools particularly useful for maintaining professional-looking social media content and managing finances.
Smyth noted that the AI tools have improved over time with feedback. “At first, I was frustrated when images had issues like missing shadows or strange objects. But as I provided feedback, those problems started to resolve,” she explained.
This new AI-driven approach by Google aims to make online shopping more personalized and efficient, ultimately reducing the uncertainty and inconvenience often associated with buying clothes online.
