Augmented reality is gaining popularity across industries, and eCommerce is no different. With more than two-thirds of customers saying they prefer retailers who feature AR experiences, there’s no doubt that this approach can help boost an online business’ performance and sales. But to what extent is this true, and how can you implement AR into your eCommerce channel? This article will try to answer these and many other questions.
How AR Benefits an eCommerce
Let’s start by answering the most basic question. How exactly can an eCommerce business benefit from implementing AR?
1. Greater Customer Engagement
Augmented reality is naturally interactive. This makes it straightforward to hook users to a website. The longer you keep a person on your eCommerce site, the higher your chances of having them convert. Customers who shop online can interact with the products they like much as they do in a physical store. They can try out a piece of clothing or see how a furniture piece would look in their own living room.
This gives merchants the chance to engage with their customers in a whole new way. After all, the customers don’t necessarily have to make a purchase right away. When they develop a positive relationship with your products and brand, they are more likely to return to you in the future.
2. New Customers
It’s becoming more challenging for marketers to bring new paying customers into their sales funnel. If you aren’t creative and don’t create a buzz, you’re far less likely to get someone’s attention. AR brings limitless engaging campaign ideas you can launch to stand out from the competition and attract new customers.
3. More Flexible Product Customization
A single 3D model can be represented in unlimited colors, shapes, patterns, and designs. You can increase your ROI by investing in 3D AR models compared to regular product photographs that require shooting locations, professional photographers, gas money, etc.
4. Faster Product Development
You can even use AR to create new products fast. You no longer need to send sketches to your manufacturer and wait for them to create a prototype. The simple creation of a 3D model will speed up the process. As a result, you can be more responsive to your customer demands and utilize the latest eCommerce trends.
5. Lower Product Returns
A recent UPS study showed that a whopping 27% of consumers return goods because they weren’t as described. This is mainly because most modern-day eCommerce businesses use images and videos to provide information about their products. But AR brings far more opportunities for presenting products.
You can make a 3D view, let the customer see how the product would fit their space, and come up with plenty of other visualization options. This allows the customer to experience the product more realistically, so they’re less likely to return the item because it didn’t meet their expectations.
6. Higher Brand Awareness
Marketing products through innovative AR technology helps build brand awareness and allows customers to connect to the business in a new way. Implementing such an approach will elevate your brand’s status in the customer’s eye as it will provide them with higher confidence about the quality of the product.
7. Higher Conversion Rates
As a result of boosting your brand awareness, keeping people on the website for longer, and increasing customer confidence, you can also expect to have higher conversion rates. Numerous stats show that AR boosts average mobile and desktop shopping conversion rates by up to 40%.
Kickstart the AR Experience in Your eCommerce
You may ask yourself, “How hard is it to bring AR to my eCommerce store?” Well, it’s not as hard as you may think.
Below are steps you can take to make sure the process runs smoothly.
1. Set Your Business Goals and Objectives
Before starting the AR experience, you first need to answer some questions. What is your goal with AR? How will implementing it help your customers? Take a few moments and think about the answers, because they can be the make-or-break point of how successful the transformation will be for your business. You need to know exactly how your customers will benefit from this new experience.
So, before you jump into the technicalities, make sure your vision is aligned with the concept of AR. From there, it’ll be much more straightforward to pick the right technologies.
2. Decide on the Tools
The next step is to come up with a list of tools you want to use on your new journey. You should be aware of the following aspects, though:
- License
Those eCommerce owners with a limited budget should consider AR platforms with free licenses. Premium solutions can get too expensive and may not be worth it at the beginning.
- Device support
Do you wish to run your AR tool on mobile devices, laptops, tablets, or maybe AR glasses? It’s crucial to select tools that support your preferred hardware.
- Operating system
Not all AR platforms support all operating systems. If you plan on making a universal AR experience, make sure the tool will work on all major operating systems.
- Features
Be careful not to choose AR platforms that don’t offer the features you need. Check the feature list carefully before signing up for any plans.
The Marketing Part
After kickstarting a new AR experience on your eCommerce platform, you’ll want to tell the world about it. You can create demo videos, share in-app instructions, and make the content shareable. Give your eCommerce customers some time to adapt to the changes and be active on social media platforms to spread the word further.
How to Use AR in eCommerce Business
So far, we’ve discussed the benefits of using AR in eCommerce and provided an overview of how you can bring this experience to your website.
But now, let’s focus on how exactly different businesses can use AR to optimize their eCommerce websites.
1. Try-On Options
One of the main reasons businesses have a low conversion rate is the fear of the customers that the product they see won’t suit them. An average shopper spends their money wisely and wants to be absolutely sure the T-shirt or dress they have their eyes on will be a perfect fit.
The AR solutions can help online shoppers understand how a product will work for them. This is a particularly useful tactic for online clothing, makeup, eyeglasses, and accessories stores.
For example, Nike allows users to measure their feet and try on the sneakers before ordering. The app claims it can measure every person’s foot individually, including the size, shape, and volume, within a 2-millimeter accuracy.
Sephora is another excellent example where shoppers use their Virtual Artist app to try virtual makeup at home.
2. Placement Preview
Online shopping for furniture can be a daunting experience. Will the bookshelf fit in the corner of the room? Will the TV screen look too big in the living room? It’s almost impossible to answer these questions by solely looking at a new product image on a website. Sometimes, even reading the product dimensions doesn’t paint the picture. But adding placement preview options gives potential customers a real-time view of how a product would fit their home or business.
For example, a custom furniture brand called Burrow uses this technology to help clients visualize how their new couches will fit their living space. The users rely on an app to place models of sofas on photos taken from the user’s iPhone or iPad.
3. Social Media Filters
Chances are, you have already tried some Instagram Story or Snapchat AR filters. Most social media users enjoy these filters, so more and more brands jump on the bandwagon to get closer to their customers.
By using AR as social media filter, you can showcase your new product in a fun and engaging way and let people test out how it will look on them. Also, the novelty and “wow” factor will help you beat the competition and encourage people to tag you in their Stories. As a result, you’ll spread your brand awareness and get more social media followers.
Important AR Stats in eCommerce to Be Aware Of
Before we wrap up this article, here’s an overview of the most important stats about AR in eCommerce.
- 52% of retailers aren’t prepared for AR integrations yet.
- $50 billion is the estimated AR market value by 2024.
- 71% of customers would shop more frequently if they had access to AR.
- 40% of consumers would pay extra for a product they can customize in AR.
- Businesses spent $18.8 billion on AR and VR experiences in 2020.
- More than one billion people use AR today.
- 40% of businesses see higher conversion rates.
- 32% of shoppers rely on AR for shopping.
- 83.1 million people in the U.S. used AR every month in 2020.
AR Is the Future of eCommerce
Augmented reality has made a huge impact on how people perceive products in online shopping. Numerous filters and product visualization options allow merchants to familiarize potential clients with their offers like never before. This means higher revenue, fewer returns, and greater client satisfaction.
The AR revolution has only started, and we can expect to see its popularity grow in years to come. For now, you can think about how your eCommerce store can benefit from such an approach and see how you can implement it following the tips provided in this article.
