How AR Is Changing Online Shopping
Artificial Intelligence in online shopping
While technology progressed greatly from 1900 to 2000, the exponential curve of technological progress implies that the 21st century will bring even more changes. Emerging technologies affect nearly every area of our lives, and it’s impossible to predict what things will look like in even just ten or twenty years.
These developments have far-reaching ramifications for our personal lives, but they’re also disrupting the way businesses approach ecommerce. In this article, we’ll focus on some of the key ways in which augmented reality, or AR (Augmented reality) is transforming the world of online shopping for both vendors and consumers.
Visualization
Not being able to see what a product looks like is one of the key disadvantages of ecommerce compared to traditional storefronts, particularly in industries like fashion and furniture. Augmented reality gives customers the opportunity to overlay virtual content on top of a real image.
For example, the IKEA Place app allows users to place virtual furniture in real space to get a better sense of how it would go with the rest of the room. This is one of the most effective and straightforward ways to leverage augmented reality for ecommerce sales. Ecommerce app developers should take notice of successful implementations in order to improve on their own strategies.
Social Sharing
Brands often focus on direct methods of lead generation such as search engine optimization and social media ads, but organic social sharing is another excellent source of traffic and revenue. Potential customers are much more likely to react to a picture or video posted by a friend or family member than a paid ad on their timeline.
While visualization is a valuable tool on its own, it leads to even more conversions when users can easily upload images to social media. From there, friends or followers can offer input or visit the site directly to learn more about your products.
Personalization
IKEA Place was one of the first well-known examples of AR in ecommerce, and companies are already following up with other innovative solutions. Just as we can now digitally overlay actual-size furniture on a real space, we may eventually be able to identify our perfect clothing size through augmented reality.
This level of personalization narrows the gap between ecommerce and in-person shopping experiences, allowing online-only businesses to compete on the same level as physical stores. Vendors that ignore the increasing relevance of AR in ecommerce will quickly fall behind the competition.
Of course, it will take years for marketers to continue exploring the possibilities of AR and building better online stores. That said, the last several years have proven that augmented reality has a critical role to play in the future of ecommerce. Implementing AR into your ecommerce practices will help you cater to customer needs and generate even more sales.
