Switzerland’s largest media retailer Ex Libris launched an impressive mobile shopping app this week.

It lets you search through their whole catalog containing millions of products using good old text search. On top of that it offers two additional ways of searching for books, music, movies and games. One by scanning the product’s barcodes, the other by snapping a picture of the product covers which is powered by kooaba’s image recognition platform. The image recognition functionality makes the following scenarios possible:

Imagine you’re at a bookstore holding the latest books about Keith Richards in your hands and you’re wondering if Ex Libris offers it for a cheaper price? Simple task. Just snap a picture of it using the Ex Libris app to find out.

Imagine you see the cover of a brand new album from P!nk on an ad or on a billboard poster and you want to find out where to buy it? Simple task. Just snap a picture of it using the Ex Libris app and it shows you a map with the closest Ex Libris shops around you.

Imagine you’re at friend’s house watching Avatar which you want to add to your blu-ray collection? Simple task. Just snap a picture of it using the Ex Libris app, add it to your virtual shopping cart and order it right away.

These are just a few of many scenarios where visual search inside the app can make your life easier and help you to explore and buy your favorite media products.

The Ex Libris app was developed by e-business specialists Youngculture and is available for free on the App Store in Switzerland. Watch out for the Android version in spring!