A new analysis of ecommerce search inquiries found that shoppers are increasingly using emojis to find and discover the products they want online. The data shows a shift from searching with product keywords to a more lifestyle-driven and nuanced approach to search.
Emoji Search is Becoming More Popular
According to the analysis, which was done by Fast Simon, a shopping optimization platform, emojis are quickly becoming a popular way for shoppers to search for and discover products. This is similar to shopping for products with keywords, but using emojis related to what you’re looking for instead.
While it’s likely not going to take over text search in terms of popularity, it’s certainly growing rapidly. In fact, in 2025, emoji searches grew 42% from Q1 to Q4. Year-over-year growth in Q1 is even more dramatic, with emoji search growing by 40% in Q1 alone. I wouldn’t be surprised to see the growth go even further in the upcoming quarters and years.
With many people shopping on their phones and emojis playing a huge role in mobile communication, whether on social media or in text messages, it makes sense that emoji search is on the rise among shoppers.
How Does Emoji Search Work?
While it’s easy to understand how emoji search works from a customer perspective, how does it actually work behind the scenes for brands? Oftentimes, it works by mapping these emojis to certain keywords, which lets the emoji act as a “shortcut” to finding the product that the customer is looking for.
For example, a brand may map the shoe emoji to the term shoes or sneakers. So if someone searches with that emoji on the site or online store, the search engine recognizes this and knows the results to provide.
Similarly, it can also go beyond mapping emojis by using AI to interpret and understand what a person is searching for when they search for a specific emoji. These AI algorithms may also calculate the sentiment or intent behind an emoji to deliver the right results to shoppers.
Top Emoji Searches
The analysis goes over some of the top emoji shopping searches. In 2025, the list was dominated by clothing and fashion-related emojis like the sneaker, the high-heeled shoe, the dress, a pair of jeans, and a hat. Other popular emojis in 2025 were the microphone (representing merchandise and events) and a backpack (representing lifestyle and utility bags).
However, so far in 2026, the emoji search landscape has been more diverse and varied. While some clothing-related emojis remain popular, the list for 2026 also includes emojis like:
- The kiss emoji (representing beauty and cosmetics)
- The boxing glove emoji (representing sportswear and performance)
- The teddy bear emoji (representing gifts and novelty merchandise)
- The pink flower emoji (representing seasonal floral trends)
- The coffee cup emoji and the running person emoji (representing an active routine and/or lifestyle)
The analysis also pointed out a couple of hybrid emoji and text searches that customers may do. This includes looking for specific wardrobe styling by searching for a clothing-related emoji next to a color, or searching a particular emoji next to a price (such as $300), letting the search engine know how much they’re looking to spend.
Due to the growth of emoji search among shopping customers, retailers need to not only continue indexing keywords, but also use AI to interpret the context and intent behind an emoji when a customer searches for one. This also involves brands making sure their search engines can process non-text data, and also mapping emojis to related products within their catalog.
