Photo-Tagging Service Stipple Could Revolutionise the Way We Shop Online

A hyperbolic title indeed, but one that could actually prove true; new photo-tagging service Stipple allows brands to tag their products in photos appearing across the web. What’s more, once tagged the photos retain the information regardless of re-sizing, copying and cropping.

According to the company’s ‘About’ page, a large number of brands have already signed up for the beta, and it’s easy to see why.

Imagine, for example, that you are a fashion retailer, and your PR agency has sent out some samples to local celebrities. A few weeks later, you spot one of the targeted celebrities at a premiere wearing your product.

Where previously you would have had to Twitpic the image with an accompanying tweet, e.g. “Look everyone, it’s our jacket!”, and perhaps knock up a quick PR and blog post, Stipple will allow you to tag the image, letting everyone who sees it know that this is your brand, plus the tag will stay with the image wherever it goes – maybe on to someone’s Tumblr, a blog post, or an online magazine article, not to mention Facebook, Twitter and Flickr.

At least, that’s what the press suggests, for example this article in Techcrunch:

“Brands that are trying to sell goods directly to customers woud (sic) use Pipeline to label their goods appropriately. Stipple then scales this labelling across all similar photos (such as multiple photos of a celebrity at an event wearing a certain piece of clothing).”

How exactly this is going to work remains to be seen for the vast majority of us; for now, all we can do is send a request for access and wait for Stipple to get in touch. However, if the initial promise of this fascinating new product is realised, it could have a huge effect on the way we shop online.