AR is about to Create a Revolutionary new Kind of eCommerce for Consumers

Snapchat face filters and similar fun apps were the introductions for many consumers to augmented reality. As we stare ahead into 2019 and beyond, AR is only going to grow.

For eCommerce sites, there’s a lot at stake in the world of augmented reality. As we continue to see integration into Snapchat, Amazon, Facebook, Instagram, and Google, it’s going to be very interesting to see where opportunity pops up and to exploit that to sell product.

For decades, society has been becoming more visual-minded. We’ve moved away from text-based interaction and more towards the voice or the visual. As users communicate online, they do so more through images and videos than ever before. Social media sites like Instagram and Facebook are investing millions into camera effects and enhancing the visual communication experience. As augmented reality has begun to increase its presence in these areas, this opens the door for eCommerce sites to share product in some new, innovative ways.

Augmented reality can be provided to users in a number of interesting ways, including product demonstrations, sharing real estate experiences, and customer targeting. As AR is immersed into social media and website design, immersive techniques that include customer participation keep them engaged. Instead of simply ‘selling’ a product, you can now invite someone in for entertainment and interaction in a way that was not otherwise possible. The experience of this makes something meaningful, unique, and unforgettable.

For some consumers, the fun convenience of AR will be enough to get them engaged in an advertising campaign or on a website, slowly moving towards making a purchase. For brands implementing AR from end-to-end across their sales funnel, this can mean big returns. Now consumers can not only view a product but also, experience it. While they read reviews, they can demo it – like inputting a piece of furniture into the room using your smartphone camera or dressing up in some new makeup from your favourite commercial brands.

Then, there’s taking what’s already in the world and using augmented reality code to search it out online. For example, Snapchat now allows you to scan someone’s outfit on a smartphone’s back-facing camera and search Amazon’s product catalogue for it. Assuming Instagram and other social media platforms were to do the same thing, and eventually expand this service, there’s no telling where this all could be headed.

Slowly, we are losing the clearly-defined line between what is reality and what is digital. Augmented reality has bridged the gap, creating a hybrid wherein the digital can embed itself into our reality. Using our smartphone cameras, there’s no limit to how this can positively impact eCommerce and steer consumers towards specific product purchases. The world is changing. New opportunities are opening up and if you’re an eCommerce site or are a company selling a product online, it’s important to take a look at where to set up shop.

With announcements like Facebook rebranding its Camera Effects app to become Spark AR, there’s still a sense of fun and play being had with augmented reality. As AR gets implemented into eCommerce and digital marketing, we hope this sense of fun and play never changes. Alongside Snapchat and Facebook’s announcements, Instagram is also in beta for camera effects and AR capabilities. Although one can argue augmented reality has already been adopted by the masses, 2019 will be the race towards which platform is able to garner enough users, attention, and excitement to be considered ‘the first’ to fully utilized AR’s potential.

There’s been a silent battle happening in the past couple of years between AR and VR. The world’s biggest brands have been trying to find a way to use them in their marketing plans, to various degrees of success. Needless to say, the total immersion of VR has received mixed reviews from some, failing to maintain the support it’s had years prior, and augmented reality has risen in its place. The future is bright for AR. Augmented reality is going to completely change the way we do social media, the way we shop online and will influence how we interact with society.

Although AR is no marketing gimmick, a lot of the apps that have made use of the technology have failed to spur it into sales. For a lot of younger consumers, they see augmented reality as extensions to gaming. Consider PokemonGo, as an example. In a short period of time, PokemonGo had a huge impact and no doubt experienced a cultural moment. That said, it’s didn’t have the type of staying power other AR features or apps have had, such as Snapchat’s rotating face filters.

As it pertains to eCommerce, where augmented reality could serve to have a high impact are with products boasting traditionally low conversion rates. Two such categories are luxury shoes and luxury furniture. To be able to take a product in its 3-D form and place it in one’s own environment, it gives a shopper the chance to ‘try it on’ before buying. There are actually augmented reality apps in development to allow you to virtually try on a pair of shoes, using your smartphone screen to do so. There’s other companies seeking to do the same with women’s dresses. There are apps now that will let you try different makeup on already. The days of flat imagery and flat posts is over. See a full 3-D experience in digital marketing accompanying AR.

Augmented reality is shooting down the obstacles that some say prevent them from shopping eCommerce. For online shoppers, they don’t physically get to see the product in front of them prior to buying. For some, a piece of furniture may show up a little bit larger than they thought it was going to be. For others, the luxury dress they’ve chosen arrives in a slightly different shade than they hoped. AR circumvents these issues and others. It gives a user shopping from home more control and ultimately, provides more knowledge of a product which will inform their purchasing choice.

Today’s websites were developed at a time when the augmented reality was not mainstream. Now that it’s becoming so, websites are going to change and digital marketing will as well. We absolutely can’t wait. Join us today for more details!