Pixsta launches image search engine

The company is using academic research into contextual image retrieval techniques, to allow users to conduct ‘image-to-image’ search.

Traditional image search engines use text-to-text or text-to-image techniques to retrieve results from the web.

Pixsta has also developed a revenue-generating ad network for the online fashion retail market.

The company already has live affiliations with media partners including Handbag.com, ElleUK and the News of The World's Fabulous Magazine and advertising partners including Monsoon, OASIS and Dorothy Perkins.

Accessed from a random starting point, users click on an image of an item of clothing, shoes or jewellery to return further images of items that are similar by colour, shape or texture. 

Clicking on any of the displayed items re-submits that item as the search term.
 

Alexander Straub, CEO and co-founder of Pixsta, said: “When searching online consumers prefer to say “I’m looking for something like this”, rather than attempting to describe what ‘this’ actually looks like- not for nothing is a picture worth a thousand words. What we’re doing is making the phrase a reality, with benefits to retailers, publishers and users. Everybody wins.”