Augmented Reality (AR) shopping opens a new market with new opportunities for brands to sell their products! Whether boutique brands and tech fashion or large retailers, digital fashion pioneers or furniture and car manufacturers. They are all starting to tap into this potential. We are talking about a huge market with incremental sales opportunities!
How does AR Shopping work?
AR Shopping works through direct interaction with the product using the camera of your phone. It is easier than ever for the user to establish a relationship with the product. Often, even real-world sizes and adjustments to the human body are possible. Currently, certain products work better than others. Watches, shoes, clothes, beauty and fashion products work best in apps. All other items work as placeable products with simpler AR features directly from the browser. Roughly speaking, there are more functions in apps than directly in the browser.
From time to time, the shopping experience is a bit glitchy due to cell phones and the quality of the internet. All in all, we can speak of a stable technology that has been continuously developed for 10 years and is easy to use.
Direct and indirect pushed sales in AR
There are new shopping opportunities in AR in development, but the principles already work. It is possible to reuse direct overlay functions and buttons from the browser in augmented reality to buy products directly. Mostly, however, companies keep the existing store layout and add a 3D model with AR function in addition to the product images.
Special attention should be paid to leading fashion companies such as Adidas and Nike or Balenciaga, which all offer their own solutions on their websites.
Try on, try out, and buy directly!
The UX design of Snap.inc and also Instagram’s apps focuses heavily on simple swipe interactions. The user looks at the product on himself, tries out whether it suits him and buys it with a swipe up. Technically, however, more subtle mechanisms can also be developed here.
It is also possible to integrate apps to incorporate the highly desirable try-on features. The brand Puma has entered into a partnership with Snap.inc. The result of this partnership is neat try on features integrated directly on their own website.
Shoppers can visualize, try on, and experience products before buying them — helping to increase conversions and reduce returns, benefiting shoppers & businesses alike.
As advertised on the Snap Inc. website
Statistically, AR shopping opens a new market
In 2021, the augmented reality market was estimated by Statista at $30.7 billion. There are around 810 million active mobile users worldwide. In fact there are more than positive numbers from excellent sources that actually already show results on this today.
Customers who used AR spent 20.7% more time on the app and viewed 1.28 times more products on average. More importantly, their likelihood of making a purchase during the session was also 19.8% higher than customers who did not use AR, providing some evidence that AR can help businesses increase revenues.
According to the data published by the Harvard Business Review
A summary content comparison:
Adding video lifts conversion rates 60% over buyers interacting with images alone. Merchants who add 3D content to their stores see a 94% conversion lift, on average.
Virtual content creation for AR
Ok, here we go, a new market and your product needs to be placed virtually in the real world. Your first question might be: How do you get a virtual product, is it complicated? Will it be expensive? As in most such situations, the market already has companies and software solutions ready to help you automate your content creation.
Get “usable 3D assets” for AR
In fact most companies already use 3D models without knowing it in production. Or the agencies that create expensive visuals for the companies have 3D models that they use on their behalf.
The good news: Yes you have not spent money for nothing mostly models can be simplified and converted to PBR. Yes, it is also possible to use your CAD models from the production!
Create 3D products for AR shopping
The first step is to digitize your own product if no virtual product exists. There are various ways to do this. Either you choose a company that specializes in 3D conversion, or you build your own pipeline and workflow. A high-quality 3D scan costs an average of 200 euros on the German market.
Many will think great, so from a sale of the number X this is profitable for me. But it makes sense to get precise advice before you stumble into a production that is either too expensive or cannot maintain the quality.
Participate and benefit from AR shopping
In fact AR shopping opens a new market. The number of platforms is constantly increasing and more and more businesses and stores are emerging on the market. Actually, there are many more options than just relying on the big apps and brands. For business owners, the value of their own usable 3D assets should definitely be at the forefront. Indeed even today, your own product can be used on your own website with simple AR features! The internet browsers Chrome, Edge Mozilla, and Safari have 3D already integrated and thus provide all the necessary conditions for AR shopping.
Apps and platforms that support AR shopping
- Adidas
- IKEA Place App
- Nike
- Puma
- Snap.inc
- Shopify AR
- Wannaby / Wanna
- Wayfair
Apps and platforms that support AR selling
- Shopify AR (More information about selling on Shopify)
- Snap.in (Just launched its own platform!)
Reduce returns to save budget and the environment!
Shoppers have become much more demanding! A huge factor in online shopping is the number of returns because products don’t fit. It’s not just about the exact size, but above all about the question of whether the product fits me. These costs can be massively reduced through the use of AR. With the help of the virtual product in their reality, users can test whether it fits and pleases them. This helps to make a decision even before receiving the physical product.
Conclusion from the author:
From my own experience, I can say that this shift towards “usable 3D assets” is already happening / has happened. More and more frequently, requests and demands are coming in, from customers who want to get in on the action right away. Absolutely AR shopping opens a new market to sell products online. I encourage marketers, decision makers, everyone to take full advantage of the AR sales opportunities, whether on Shopify, Instagram, Snap Chat or with their own platform.
Thanks for sharing. I read many of your blog posts, cool, your blog is very good.