Over the last few years, Virtual Reality has appealed a lot to the niche that adopted this technology in the early days while its modest sibling, augmented reality (prominently known as AR) stole the show. Through this article, we will show how the brands using augmented reality are stealing the show in the market.
In the year 2014 when Facebook bought Oculus a virtual reality startup for $2 billion, it was looking as if the start of a new era because Virtual Reality was gaining popularity and everyone would soon be spending their time in a Ready Player One-like world of total immersion.
According to the sources it is expected that more than 83 million Americans use AR monthly up from 59 million in 2019. This is a quick adoption of technology and has been fueled in part by AR’s approachability.
AR has been aided because of the fact that it doesn’t need a gawky headset or any such special hardware. AR has some special qualities that can be experienced easily on a mobile device. This thing has made AR to be easily integrated into experiences like Snapchat, Instagram, etc. The companies who stepped into this field got an extra add-on benefit of augmented reality in advertising their products.
Augmented Reality Business adoption has a great potential for the eCommerce Industry. From showcasing products in a better way to building stronger customer relationships and enhancing the checkout process, the technology can improve the shopping experience in many ways.
To make the theoretical benefits of augmented reality more, well, real, here are a few examples of the Augmented Reality Marketing Companies and Augmented Reality uses in action:
IKEA: See how furniture would look in your house
There are a lot of struggles people face while shopping online and this problem is not just with wearable. So IKEA came with the solution to this problem for home goods consumers.
Users now just have to scan a room with their smartphone and select some products from the digital catalog available. The Augmented Reality App Built on Apple’s ARKit development.
Adidas: AR experience for loyal fans
While still, the research on Augmented Reality uses by the brands using augmented reality as they are focused on the discovery and research to bring in something new in their industry.
Augmented Reality can also aid in the areas like brand loyalty, checkout, etc.
As the Adidas ComplexCon AR Experience shows, AR can also help in areas like brand loyalty and checkout. This AR experience came into the picture because Adidas was struggling as its fans were swarming out of limited edition shoe drop by the ever-growing resale market.
To overcome this problem, Adidas decided to create an extraordinary experience learning from other brands using Augmented Reality so that its fans could make purchases using AR-specific apps just by walking around and scanning augmented reality code.
From learning about sneakers to checkout, the apps make everything faster and learning more interesting and as a result, the audience is enjoying this new change.
Levi’s, Disney and Snaps: Partnerships for quick AR experiences
There are still a lot of companies that were deterred from exploring Augmented Reality Technology. The reason was they thought that the whole experience needed to be built from scratch. While this was not the case. But in reality, there is n number of platforms that have AR feature capabilities that companies can pickaback of.
Now take a look at this interesting partnership between Levi’s, Disney, and Snap. Being part of a unique promotion, shoppers at the Levi’s Store in Walt Disney World’s Disney Springs could scan a Snapchat code, try on a digital version of a unique denim Mickey Mouse hat, and then purchase the real product.
The whole offering was app-based and powered by Snap’s Shoppable AR Lens, which very swiftly allows the company to create augmented reality-based shopping experiences.
Gucci – ‘try on’ shoes in AR
There are many reasons as to why retail brands using augmented reality and at the same time investing in AR Technology. One of the main reasons is to help customers to make better product decisions. Gucci is the famous luxury brand name and by including AR features to its application to let users experience the ‘try on’ sneakers feature makes it extraordinary.
The app has digital overlay of various different sneakers. When users point their smartphone camera downwards on their own feet, they can try the real time experience by swiping left or right to try different sets.
The application enables users to click photos which they can share on various social or messaging platforms. The strong functionality of Augmented Reality business in retail has boosted customer satisfaction to a great level.
Toyota – vehicle demo
Toyota launched the Hybrid Augmented Reality Application in the year 2019, to enable customers gain unique rich experience in the automobile field and a better understanding of its new C-HR Model.
How does this app work?
The application works by overlaying images of the inner workings of the Hybrid drivetrain onto physical vehicles. Created with agency Brandwidth.
Through this application, its customers can interact and discover the features like battery, car’s key, battery, hybrid’s motor, and fuel tank. Users can also go in-depth to know how the car’s energy is used and how the drivetrain works in different drive states.
Modiface on Amazon
Modiface, L’Oréal’s AR application is also a very famous example of Augmented Reality in Retail. Its features allow customers to digitally experience the ‘try on’ feature.
L’Oréal has also launched Modiface to Amazon customers on smartphones, permitting them to also try on digitally overlay make-up looks. The technology allows a lot more than what the users are already buying (a product that suits the user’s skin tone). This lays a great opportunity for Amazon to step as a player in the beauty industry.
Lenskart
Lenskart was the early entrant in the Augmented Reality field. Its research and application allowed it to evolve. The app impressed the users to a great extent. It has a uniquely powerful experience with the ‘3D Try On’ feature. It is very simple to use, just the user needs to give Lenskart access to their camera, and then it will show you how a frame looks on your face.
Wrap Up
These are a few of various apps making use of Augmented Reality these applications are quite famous, tested, and liked by users. Besides, there are great IT companies who are working hard on developing Augmented Reality tools for the startups and companies that want augmented reality for business by creating customized augmented reality applications. What apps have you used? Tell us, and the other readers, via the comments below.
