As Snap unveils new innovations to connect more brands and retailers with its mass audience, Retail Week talks to its head of retail and lifestyle, Rachel Levy, to find out more about how it is increasingly becoming a valued place to shop and discover brands.
According to Snap, 90% of 13-24 year olds are active users on the platform, and it has worked in partnership with retailers like Nike, JD, Selfridges, Asos, Boots and Sephora.
A new report by YouGov and commissioned by Snapchat and Portas Agency revealed that 42% of Gen Z treat shopping like a social activity and 35% said they find shopping more appealing when able to virtually try-on products.
To cater to this crowd, Snap is rolling out more sponsored snaps and in 2026, it will launch new augmented reality (AR) glasses for shoppers and retailers to transform virtual try-ons and create a hybrid shopping experience.
Levy, who has only been in her role for three months, sits down with Retail Week at the Shop with Snap event to learn more about how the platform works with retailers.
Sponsored Snaps seem quite intriguing. Can you explain more?
“During Black Friday last year we partnered with Boots on a sponsored Snap, where brand adverts appear in the users chat. Now, we’re working with creators a lot more – meaning brands can now send sponsored Snaps from creators in partnership with a brand to merge the conversation between the user, the creator, and the brand to make it feel more authentic.
“Last week, an ad for Dior Sauvage popped up in my chat and I thought ‘oh my goodness it’s Father’s Day soon’. I sent the ad to my sister asking if we should get it for our dad, and it was seamless. It was part of a conversation that’s not interrupted and it’s actually complementary and relevant.”
How do retailers and brands work with Snap?
“It’s about what the brand or retailer is trying to achieve. Have they got a new customer goal that they’re trying to drive? Have they got a new store opening? Is there a new drop happening? Is it about brand awareness? It’s then about building from that, driving value for their business and then showing them our suite of products that may be suited to them.
“Some of the brands on the platform are huge and have been around for a number of years. It’s about how we elevate this and what we’re doing to enhance the experience. The experience part of Snapchat is what draws people back, so bridging the two worlds of physical and digital is where there is opportunity for brands.”
“If we can seamlessly bring physical and digital while enhancing the shopping experience, that’s where the real magic happens for brands”
AR, VR and AI are super integral to Snapchat. Have you had good feedback from users and retailers on these tools?
“We’ve got some really great feedback as when you’re trying something on in AR, you can see the different colours and styles and work out what you like from your phone. By making that purchase, typically you’re keeping these products because you’ve tried it on virtually which results in less returns. From a retail perspective, returns are a really high cost and if you’re buying things in different colours and returning most of these items, that’s really frustrating for a retailer. So we’re trying to create something that enhances the experience, but in a frictionless way.
“Gen Z are craving such experiences. They want to physically see something, feel the space and be around people but they also want to experience a cool, different, elevated version of it that goes beyond physicality. If we can seamlessly bring physical and digital while enhancing the shopping experience, that’s where the real magic happens for brands.”
How is Snap preparing for the Black Friday and Christmas period?
“I’ve only been here a few months, but even before I got here the conversation around peak had started. You finished one season, and it’s ‘what worked well?’ ‘How can we learn from things?’ ‘What campaigns landed?’ ‘What are some great stories that we’ve had from our clients?’ And we take the time to work through them.
“I would say to brands – this is your moment to lean into Snapchat and use this time to prepare you for what’s coming. You’re going to run through summer, and then you’re basically at Christmas. Our role as a team is to make sure retailers have a holistic plan to line up with their business goals and this is also where data plays a part. We can use data to see what is happening, and use it to create something even more special for the next peak or the next shopping season.”
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