Google acquires Like.com
23 August 2010 11:25
Internet giant Google has acquired Like.com, the e-commerce hub that offers its customers a visual search engine for fashion and lifestyle products. While specific details about the deal are currently still sketchy, it has been suggested that Google might have paid as much as $100 million for Like.com.
Like.com's approach to etailing attempts to incorporate style and taste parameters to its search algorithms. According to the business: "While hard goods such as books, electronics and DVDs are bought based on reviews, product specs or merchant ratings, soft goods (what we, at Like.com, focus on) are purchased based on everything from the consumer's personal style and whether the item matches an outfit to current trends and opinions of the fashion elite. With that in mind, we've developed technology that lets us understand visually what terms like "red high-heeled pumps" and "floral patterned sleeveless dress" mean and created algorithms to understand whether those pumps complement or clash with that dress."
In a statement posted on Like.com's homepage, co-founder and chief executive Munjal Shah said: "Since 2006, Like.com has been moving the frontiers of eCommerce forward one step at a time. We were the first to bring visual search to shopping, the first to build an automated cross-matching system for clothing, and more. We didn't stop there, and we don't have plans to stop now. We see joining Google as a way to supersize our vision and supercharge our passion. This is something we are truly excited about."
The acquisition reflects Google's ongoing endeavours to develop its product search features, and there is also speculation that the search giant is interested in the technology at the core of Like.com that enables computers to learn how to recognise objects independently.
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