Amazon Brings AI-Powered Visual Search to South African Shoppers With Amazon Lens

Retail 19 February 2026

Amazon has officially rolled out Amazon Lens to its South African customers, bringing a highly anticipated visual shopping tool to the local market.

Designed to eliminate the frustration of typing out clunky product descriptions, Amazon Lens allows shoppers to find what they want simply by using images, screenshots, or their smartphone camera.

Globally, tens of millions of customers already rely on the feature every month to discover products instantly. Now, South Africans can enjoy that same friction-free experience directly within the Amazon Shopping app.

How Amazon Lens Works

Finding the perfect item is now as simple as a tap. By clicking the camera icon in the search bar, users unlock several intuitive shopping features:

Shop from Your Camera Roll: Have a screenshot of a trendy outfit or a picture of a gadget you saved? Upload the image, and Amazon Lens will instantly pull up matching or visually similar items available in the store.

Circle to Search: If you upload a busy photo featuring multiple items, this exclusive tool lets you draw a circle around the specific product you want to buy, narrowing down the search instantly.

Camera Search (Snap & Shop): See something you like while out and about, watching TV, or reading a magazine? Just point your live camera at the object, and Amazon Lens will find the closest matches in seconds.

Quick Barcode Scanning: Perfect for price comparisons or restocking household essentials. Simply scan the product's barcode to instantly pull up its listing, price, and delivery options—no typing required.

Powered by Practical AI

Once the visually similar results load, customers can easily filter their options by price, ratings, and delivery speed.

"We continue to innovate to help customers quickly find products without becoming experts in product terminology," says Robert Koen, Managing Director of Amazon Sub-Saharan Africa. "At Amazon, our AI applications are designed to make customers' lives better and easier. We're using AI to solve everyday problems, making shopping more intuitive, personalised, and friction-free."

Amazon Lens is available now. Simply open the Amazon Shopping app and tap the camera icon in the search bar to get started.

Supplied by: Amazon.

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