Augmented Reality is Shaping the Shopping Experience
The visionary is erudite with a strong academic background, Kavita holds deep domain experience of 15+ years.
The future of shopping is definitely with Augmented Reality (AR) Shopping and it looks cooler than one can imagine. With the advent of AR-based e-commerce and advanced retail stores, customer’s shopping experience has been enhanced to get an edge over other stores. It has transformed the whole journey of a shopper from entering a store to opening the final product at home in unimaginable ways.
The Current situation of Covid-19 has shifted the gears in the adoption of the AR technology. The businesses that have adopted AR technology in the last 12 weeks is more than the number of businesses that have come online in the last 12 years.
AR is not only driving the sales but helping the brands also to build emotional connect with customers
Augmented shopping provides a new opportunity for users to visualize and interact with products Virtually. Moreover, this interactive technology is also transforming the way marketers and businesses interact with their customers.
With rising disposable income and aspirations, demand for quality products, desire to look good, easy access to credit, fast life, the paucity of time, traffic woes, and increasing smartphone penetration, consumers would rely on AR to transact online. Besides, AR/VR engages users 30 times more effectively than mobile advertisements (Source: Retained). As per retailperceptions.com, a global leader in innovative retail solutions.
I. 40 percent of shoppers would be willing to pay more for if they could experience it through AR
ii. 61 percent of shoppers prefer to shop at stores that offer AR, over ones that don’t
iii. 71 percent of shoppers would shop at a retailer more often if they offered AR.
Through AR, family members who are distant apart could simultaneously be part of the same shopping experience bringing the social and emotional elements present in offline retail shopping today. An AR use case could be at a typical wedding. Both bride and groom might want to experience shopping and see together while they might be geographically apart. While at home, the bride would just open her mobile app, and try the Diamond necklace or wedding ring one after the other until she would settle for the one. While the bride settles for her jewellery, the groom might simultaneously select his wedding ring for himself. With time being money, isn’t AR a smart choice - something in tune with time?
With AI/ML integration, Augmented Reality provides intelligent personalized recommendations based on a customer’s persona, historical buying patterns, and saving potential. Not only does AR bridges the gap between offline and online retail but also strategically positions against the competition.
In-Store Navigation through AR & VR
Perusing through the whole store can be a hassle many times. Addressing the same, AR routing in brick and mortar stores can guide the customer to find the desired product. It helps to make the in-store experience more informational, seamless, and faster. Another amazing AR routing solution involves the gamification of customers and their experience. Here, the route leads not only to the product but for some gifts or discounts or other exciting surprises.
Also, can bring the complete retail shopping experience online through AR virtual navigation. Where one can sitting comfortably on their sofa can visit their favourite retail shop through AR/VR Virtual shopping, a complete 360-degree immersive virtual tour is created with touchpoints to Try-On the product or to visualize the product virtually. Through these brands can bridge the gap between offline and online shopping.
Smart Mirrors
Wonder if you could just stand in front of a mirror and try on different apparel without actually having to wear them. Well, Augmented Reality is bringing it into reality. AR augmented gadgets such as mirrors are providing a super convenient shopping experience for the customers.
A person can stand in front of the mirror and get to see how the apparel is going to look like. It also comprises of an AR-generated model that can be rotated in 360⁰, which in turn provides the shopper with a better idea of how the clothes will fit.
Moreover, customers can also customize a look by trying different clothes, shoes, and accessories using hand gestures that are detected by the mirror. Also, they can click a picture of their look and share it on social media to get reviews from friends and family.
Is Virtual Try-On just a tool or something more?
Virtual Try-On is defining the way how shopping is done today, VTO is not just looked up for increasing the sale but fills all the gaps in the customer buying journey and experience, VTO is one such feature which adds a lot of value to the business, could be in creating the position statement in the minds of customers about the brand or creating different use cases like bring families together in online shopping by doing the Virtual Try-On and sharing the screen with distant loved ones to be part of the shopping journey of products like Jewellery, Apparel, makeup, Eyewear, etc for special occasions like marriages, anniversaries, or birthdays, close families always want to be part of it but sometimes they can’t because of the work-life or distance, VTO enables the brands to empower themselves to give such amazing customer experience. And all these can be easily done at the comfort of their fingertips.
Conclusion:
With smartphones getting AR-enabled and with companies like Google, Apple, Facebook, and Microsoft doing everything from M&A to developing AR tool kits to re-establish their dominance suggest that inflection is near the corner. CMO's and marketers need to rapidly adapt to swim with the tide or be prepared to lose market share.
Being truly customer-centric today means going deeper than just offering a product; it is about delighting your customer at all possible touchpoints, creating emotional bonds, connects and instilling a sense of purpose amongst them. The brands that have withstood disruption and maintained industry relevance are those that have taken bold risks to create and re-create such delights.
With all things equal, AR could evolve as your differentiating strategic branding weaponry at most consumer touchpoints to command a premium, higher top line, and higher ROI.
The future of shopping is definitely with Augmented Reality (AR) Shopping and it looks cooler than one can imagine. With the advent of AR-based e-commerce and advanced retail stores, customer’s shopping experience has been enhanced to get an edge over other stores. It has transformed the whole journey of a shopper from entering a store to opening the final product at home in unimaginable ways.
The Current situation of Covid-19 has shifted the gears in the adoption of the AR technology. The businesses that have adopted AR technology in the last 12 weeks is more than the number of businesses that have come online in the last 12 years.
AR is not only driving the sales but helping the brands also to build emotional connect with customers
Augmented shopping provides a new opportunity for users to visualize and interact with products Virtually. Moreover, this interactive technology is also transforming the way marketers and businesses interact with their customers.
With rising disposable income and aspirations, demand for quality products, desire to look good, easy access to credit, fast life, the paucity of time, traffic woes, and increasing smartphone penetration, consumers would rely on AR to transact online. Besides, AR/VR engages users 30 times more effectively than mobile advertisements (Source: Retained). As per retailperceptions.com, a global leader in innovative retail solutions.
I. 40 percent of shoppers would be willing to pay more for if they could experience it through AR
ii. 61 percent of shoppers prefer to shop at stores that offer AR, over ones that don’t
iii. 71 percent of shoppers would shop at a retailer more often if they offered AR.
Through AR, family members who are distant apart could simultaneously be part of the same shopping experience bringing the social and emotional elements present in offline retail shopping today. An AR use case could be at a typical wedding. Both bride and groom might want to experience shopping and see together while they might be geographically apart. While at home, the bride would just open her mobile app, and try the Diamond necklace or wedding ring one after the other until she would settle for the one. While the bride settles for her jewellery, the groom might simultaneously select his wedding ring for himself. With time being money, isn’t AR a smart choice - something in tune with time?
AR routing in brick and mortar stores can guide the customer to find the desired product
With AI/ML integration, Augmented Reality provides intelligent personalized recommendations based on a customer’s persona, historical buying patterns, and saving potential. Not only does AR bridges the gap between offline and online retail but also strategically positions against the competition.
In-Store Navigation through AR & VR
Perusing through the whole store can be a hassle many times. Addressing the same, AR routing in brick and mortar stores can guide the customer to find the desired product. It helps to make the in-store experience more informational, seamless, and faster. Another amazing AR routing solution involves the gamification of customers and their experience. Here, the route leads not only to the product but for some gifts or discounts or other exciting surprises.
Also, can bring the complete retail shopping experience online through AR virtual navigation. Where one can sitting comfortably on their sofa can visit their favourite retail shop through AR/VR Virtual shopping, a complete 360-degree immersive virtual tour is created with touchpoints to Try-On the product or to visualize the product virtually. Through these brands can bridge the gap between offline and online shopping.
Smart Mirrors
Wonder if you could just stand in front of a mirror and try on different apparel without actually having to wear them. Well, Augmented Reality is bringing it into reality. AR augmented gadgets such as mirrors are providing a super convenient shopping experience for the customers.
A person can stand in front of the mirror and get to see how the apparel is going to look like. It also comprises of an AR-generated model that can be rotated in 360⁰, which in turn provides the shopper with a better idea of how the clothes will fit.
Moreover, customers can also customize a look by trying different clothes, shoes, and accessories using hand gestures that are detected by the mirror. Also, they can click a picture of their look and share it on social media to get reviews from friends and family.
Is Virtual Try-On just a tool or something more?
Virtual Try-On is defining the way how shopping is done today, VTO is not just looked up for increasing the sale but fills all the gaps in the customer buying journey and experience, VTO is one such feature which adds a lot of value to the business, could be in creating the position statement in the minds of customers about the brand or creating different use cases like bring families together in online shopping by doing the Virtual Try-On and sharing the screen with distant loved ones to be part of the shopping journey of products like Jewellery, Apparel, makeup, Eyewear, etc for special occasions like marriages, anniversaries, or birthdays, close families always want to be part of it but sometimes they can’t because of the work-life or distance, VTO enables the brands to empower themselves to give such amazing customer experience. And all these can be easily done at the comfort of their fingertips.
Conclusion:
With smartphones getting AR-enabled and with companies like Google, Apple, Facebook, and Microsoft doing everything from M&A to developing AR tool kits to re-establish their dominance suggest that inflection is near the corner. CMO's and marketers need to rapidly adapt to swim with the tide or be prepared to lose market share.
Being truly customer-centric today means going deeper than just offering a product; it is about delighting your customer at all possible touchpoints, creating emotional bonds, connects and instilling a sense of purpose amongst them. The brands that have withstood disruption and maintained industry relevance are those that have taken bold risks to create and re-create such delights.
With all things equal, AR could evolve as your differentiating strategic branding weaponry at most consumer touchpoints to command a premium, higher top line, and higher ROI.
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