THE ROLE OF AUGMENTED REALITY IN E-COMMERCE: CASE STUDIES

April 8, 2021

We hear more and more about augmented reality, which is now being applied to every field of application: from DL (distance learning), gaming, design and refurbishment in industry to medicine. Indeed, the world of marketing can also benefit from it as well. Unlike virtual reality, which allows the user to be immersed in the digital world, augmented reality uses new technologies to modify the world around us and offers the user interactive virtual objects. Augmented reality is, therefore, a technology that uses a display, such as the glass of a smartphone or a pair of glasses, to add multimedia information to the reality around us.

AUGMENTED REALITY AS A MARKETING STRATEGY

Augmented reality and virtual reality are being incorporated into the marketing strategies of more and more companies with the aim of improving the user experience and creating engagement through a gamification experience. Applying augmented reality to one’s business strategy brings value to those who want to invest in technological innovation as a key to success. However, this is not usually the case for startups, SMEs and freelancers who, despite being aware of the benefits of adopting AR in marketing, tend not to use augmented reality due to budget constraints. We list some of the reasons for testing this technology in marketing campaigns:

Competitive advantage: integrating augmented reality into your marketing strategy allows you to stand out from the competition by showing the added value of this technology to your audience, increasing your lead conversion rate.
Brand awareness: the use of augmented and virtual reality technologies increases brand awareness.
Retargeting: augmented reality allows targeted retargeting operations, not only based on their online habits, but also offline (closing the circle between the virtual and real worlds).
Increased sales: adopting AR in advertising campaigns has the potential to improve the customer experience and is a great solution especially in the e-commerce world.
Interactivity: AR marketing campaigns are an innovative way of lead generation and increase conversions and retention.
Insights and analytics: AR campaigns make it easy to understand user behaviour by capturing data through data mining and analysis.

Augmented reality is applied in e-commerce, which through mobile devices offers consumers the possibility to make a virtual product trial:

AUGMENTED REALITY: CASE STUDIES

As consumers have become more and more demanding in their choice of products, many companies are trying to create an innovative shopping experience. Here are some examples of augmented reality applied in the world of marketing and e-commerce:

Nike

Nike has their shoes tried on in advance. The user, positioned next to a wall, scans his foot with a smartphone or tablet via the dedicated app and sees, in addition to how his shoes fit, the most suitable shoe size for him.

IKEA

The Swedish multinational knows that, when you need to buy a piece of furniture, the customer tries to understand how the piece of furniture will look inside their home, both from a geometric and aesthetic point of view.

The brand has launched the IKEA application which, using augmented reality, allows you to see the desired piece of furniture in 3D. By framing a free floor, the product will appear in front. You can also choose to move, rotate or share it with your friends.

Sephora

The well-known make-up brand uses AR through an application that, thanks to a photo of one’s face, suggests the most suitable products. Once selected, the customer can decide whether to discard them, collect them in the store or receive them directly at home.

Magnolia Bakery

It is the most famous New York pastry shop in the world for cakes and cupcakes. It has long since decided to merge digital marketing and AR; in this way the consumer can see the dessert on the table and compose it according to their tastes.

CONCLUSION

Marketers are constantly looking for innovative ways to capture the attention of new customers by providing them with a personalised shopping experience. Augmented reality, already used in many fields of application, will surely become a trend in the marketing world in the coming years and companies will end up using it even in more niche markets. Already today, technologies and connectivity are available for its adoption in e-commerce, giving consumers an interactive shopping experience. It is just a matter of understanding in each individual case how to exploit it to improve your business.

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