In addition to existing  search features in their men’s and women’s shoe store, such as price range, brand, and color, Amazon announced the launch of a new addition to the line-up, which allows customers to search shoes based on what they look like.  The visual search enhancement is another filter option for shoppers, and leverages a specific search trend that’s enhanced retail and fashion queries in particular, along the lines of sites such as Like.com.

“With the launch of this new search feature, finding the right pair of shoes becomes even easier for customers,” said Bill Stasior, president of A9. “The customer is presented with a palette of shapes, representing different styles of shoes and that palette is constantly changing to match the customer’s context. Because the styles are shown graphically as silhouettes, customers don’t even need to know the name of the styles they are exploring.”

This new  capability allows customers to search for a shoe style of their choice without having to go through a tough time identifying what kind of style it is. The visual search technology analyzes search descriptions like shape, color, appearance, and then groups related products together. Among all these search parameters, A9.com algorithms relies on the shape contour descriptions and texture descriptions the most.  A similar feature offered by the site to further aid customers is the “Items That Look Like This.”

Developing additional search tools for retail in particular has been a major point of interest as online shopping improves and rises in adoption.  The major players are seeking more ways to incorporate more realistic and comprehensive search tools.  Google, which already acquired Like.com, has been delving deep into fashion and retail search and shopping, while its product search tools have been receiving upgrades in time for the holidays, too.