• by Colin Kirkland , 5 hours ago

Snapchat is expanding its in-app shopping focus from small businesses to luxury brands as the holiday season continues.

Through the end of the year, the social media company will be promoting three luxury brands -- Chopard, BOSS, and Lancôme – within an immersive digital village on the mobile app.

In the company’s announcement, Snapchat describes its “Winter Village” as an in-app shopping space where users can explore each brand through dedicated AR Lenses. 

Designed by creative studio Atomic, the augmented reality (AR) experiences are intended to represent digital boutiques featuring “up close” product discovery and direct purchasing ability via the brand’s e-commerce site.

The Winter Village is accessible on Snap’s Lens Carousel, as well as each brand’s public profile, and will differ depending on the brand. 

Chopard, for example, is showcasing its image through a “paper-like reinterpretation” of its brick-and-mortar stores, with interactive product cards describing the story behind watches and jewelry on display.  

Lancôme presents its fragrances on an AR train ride pushing through a snowy mountain pass, while BOSS is promoting its new collection with teddy-bear brand Steiff in a digital factory setting. 

Snapchat’s decision to promote large luxury brands comes months after Snap CEO Evan Spiegel announced that the company would focus mainly on investing in medium-sized businesses in order to “reaccelerate” advertising growth. 

Since the announcement, however, Snap’s stock has been trading at near-all-time lows, with some analysts recently downgrading the company’s stock value in response to its Q2 results. 

Luxury brands are attempting to reach Gen Z consumers, who are expected to make up over a quarter of global luxury spending within the next four years, according to Boston Consulting Group. 

Despite its recent stock profile, Snapchat is the leading social platform in reaching Gen Z consumers, with about 90% of 13- to-24-year-olds across the globe -- including almost 50 million Gen Z users in the U.S. -- on the app, according to Statista. 

In addition, the majority of these users – about 80% – report that AR experiences help them decide what they want to purchase in the app.