admin The revolutionary influence of Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) in the world of business can hardly be overemphasized. Both these tools help make interactive and augmented versions of our realities possible. These modern tech tool have become necessary assets for firms that aim at excelling in the market by securing an edge over its competitors. Each industry vertical has witnessed its effective reformulation with the incorporation of such AR and VR tech.
The retail industry is one of the most salient players of the modern business world. Its contribution in the market economy is beyond interrogation. This sector has also incorporated the boons of AR/VR tech to devise novel methods of catering to its expanding customer base. The ingenuity of these tools lies in their abilities to craft unparalleled customer experiences. Their escapist orientations create perfect opportunities for the retail sector to flourish and develop beyond its previously entrenched conventional confines.
Reimagining the World of Retail
Customers is deemed as the pivotal focus point of the modern retail industry. Retailers are more attuned to the philosophical standpoint that they are essentially selling experiences and not products to their modern clients. Given this preeminence of the customer, creating an enchanting allure for them is of paramount significance for a retailer. As mentioned earlier, one of the core benefits of incorporating AR and VR into the retail market space has been accorded to the capabilities of such tools to create brilliantly unique and mesmerizing customer experiences. These tools help reshape a customer’s experience of shopping both inside the store as well as on the virtual platforms.
For instance, retail giant IKEA has implemented AR/VR tools to create high definition and interactive showrooms. Equipped with the immersive power of VR, these showrooms promise the customer 3D product experiences. IKEA’s AR catalog app also helps customers visualize how a particular piece of furniture will look when placed inside their home. Such ingenious tools are essentially redefining customer interactions, reshaping their shopping outlook, as well as their whole shopping experiences.
Similarly, by implementing AR tools into the backstage of the retail market, warehousing and inventory tasks can be further simplified. In-store workers or company staff engaged in the warehousing of products can be provided with the requisite information about products without disrupting their view through AR-enabled smartglasses. This ensures that their hands are free since the need to hold tablets is eliminated, allowing them to carry-on with their tasks of recording inventory, loading, or packing quite easily.
Retail Brands that have Embraced AR/VR Tools
Listed below are some of the most notable retail stalwarts that have incorporated the boons of AR and VR tools to efficaciously alter their business models:
- As one of the most famous and coveted luxury car brands, Audi has implemented a VR-empowered system to customize its customer experiences in showrooms as well as on the company website.
- L’Oreal is another retail giant that has displayed the prowess of these tools. The L’Oreal Store in Paris features a Make Up Genius Bar that allows women to virtually try on makeup. This is substantiated with the Make Up Genius app on the smartphones of users, allowing them to try on desired products on their cellphones.
- Swarovski has partnered with Master Card to launch a VR shopping app. This strategy has been ideated to forward the Atelier Swarovski Home Décor line.
- Walmart is also boosting up its AR/VR game to remain relevant in the market. Earlier, the retailing pioneer had sponsored Jurassic World’s AR game to offer a new twist to product exploration using the game. Recently, it has acquired a VR startup with new hopes of transforming customer experiences nationwide, across its stores.
- Other members of the Big Global Retailers Club – including Amazon, Kroger, and Tesco– have not lagged behind. They too have implemented their own versions of similar strategies to help augment and enhance customer experiences.
Although we are witnessing an accelerating implementation of these tools in the retail market, there still remains a mammoth proportion of their potentialities that are underexplored and unexploited. While big retail giants like the ones mentioned above have tried to holistically extract the benefits of these tools, there still remains much to be uncovered.
That being said, even with the limited implementation of these tools, we are set to witness a complete overhaul of the way conventional shopping experiences in stores, supermarkets, or the e-commerce platforms are imagined. With an overwhelming number of brands coming-up with their own versions of virtual apparel trials, in-store navigation, and interactive experiences with virtual shop assistants, the face of global, regional, and local retail is set to be transformed beyond recognition. We are already witnessing this change and it is set to increase by tenfold in the near future.
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