How To Solve Consumer Problems With Augmented Reality

 

Five years ago, augmented reality (AR) entered the mainstream via phone-based applications. Despite mainstream hits such as Pokemon Go, which was a rudimentary workaround compared to today’s implementations, AR in general struggled with slow adoption and education hurdles. Even as the early hype subsided, retailers looked for practical use cases for AR, realizing that it had the potential to increase sales conversion by enabling consumers to see how a product or experience — furniture, clothing, consumer electronics — would look in the context of a home or other real-world setting.

Today, we’re at the beginning of a new golden age of technology. AR, AI, Edge Computing, 5G — it’s all converging. Amid rapid changes, the key to integrating technology into retail in ways that drive sales is to focus on constants.

Trends come and go, but the biggest consumer problems remain constant. The AR industry’s value proposition also remains constant: We help people see things that don’t yet exist and bring “the promise” to life.

Seeing Instead of Imagining

In a 2019 Nielsen global survey, consumers listed augmented and virtual reality as the top technologies they’d want to assist them in their daily lives, and just over half (51 percent) said they’d use the technology to assess products.

Virtual try-before-you-buy experiences skyrocketed during COVID-19. These visualizations range from previewing furniture in your home from brands such as Wayfair and Home Depot to testing what fashion, glasses, or even makeup will look like when worn. MAC Cosmetics shared that the demand for its virtual try-ons feature online has tripled since the pandemic began, pushing forward years of innovation and adoption of AR within retail in a matter of just a few months.

When consumers see something rather than just imagine how it could be, they’re much more likely to engage with it, vastly improving ROI. Shopify released data showing that products featuring AR content saw a 94 percent higher conversion rate than products without it. Similarly, Houzz reported that people who engaged with their AR tool were 11 times more likely to purchase, and spent nearly three times more time in the app.

At Plott, the extended reality (XR) company I founded, we use AR technology to seamlessly take users from conceptualizing to designing to completing DIY projects. For example, consumers can overlay a picture frame they like on their own space via the phone viewfinder, then purchase it, and then utilize our integrated hardware and indoor measuring solution, Cubit, to guide them as to precisely where and how to hang it on the wall. Similarly, our digital measuring and mapping wheel, Carta, can help complete similar tasks outdoors and on a larger scale.

Delivering Brand Awareness

Another consumer problem AR helps solve is making buying decisions. In a crowded (and sometimes copycat) market, it can be difficult to choose one product or experience over another. Often, the brands who win are the ones who know how to stand out.

In one example, the NFL recently partnered with Nickelodeon to bring some of the channel’s signature slime to the football field virtually, maximizing the co-viewing appeal for families. In another, BON V!V Spiked Seltzer generated excitement around a product launch by creating murals allowing passers-by to scan a QR code to watch a 3D vending machine where interactive animations come to life. The animations helped direct consumers to locations where they could buy the product nearby. We don’t know exactly how each of these campaigns performed financially for each company, but a recent survey from Havas stating that 84 percent of people expect brands to create content indicates that activations such as these are not only welcomed by consumers, but are anticipated to garner their engagement.

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