Impact of Augmented Reality on eCommerce businesses

The eCommerce industry is one of the fastest-growing industries in the world. In recent times, the eCommerce market is emerging and has also reached a new milestone of success. After the pandemic, online shopping has become a rage among people. It is a great way to shop in your comfort zone. 

The only limitation of online shopping is that it doesn’t provide you with a full sensory product experience. Whereas the brick-and-mortar model lets you try clothes, touch the fabric, or look at how a particular piece of furniture will look in your home. 

To overcome the limitation of online shopping, there has been an introduction of Augmented reality eCommerce. With Augmented reality, you can expand your physical world by adding digital experience to it. 

How Capable is AR eCommerce of Changing the Present Scenario?

The term Augmented reality refers to a technology that broadens our physical world by adding digital experience to it. AR is the best possible way to look at a real-life environment with the help of a digital lens.

The information put into the real-life environment is all about the senses. It is all about the things you get to see and hear. The aim of Augmented Reality can be either informative, constructive, or destructive. Mostly AR is meant to create a smooth combination of both the physical and digital worlds for providing an overall look of the product. 

If you still have not experienced augmented reality, then it might sound a bit abstract to you. It would feel like a scene straight out of a Hollywood film. But, it is for real and can change the way you see things. AR can be put to various uses and is highly advantageous for eCommerce.

Augmented reality eCommerce might have come to life recently, but immersive technology has been there in the market for a long time. But, it was not meant for use by customers until now. 

Advantages of Augmented reality for eCommerce

Improved Experience

Augmented reality is known for providing an enhanced experience to users. It provides a better gaming experience as gaming grounds include a mix of both virtual worlds along with real-life experiences. 

Easy to Use

Augmented reality can be easily accessed on cell phones and there is no need to follow any difficult procedure. 

Enhanced Technology

Recently, Augmented reality can bring a great improvement in telemedicine solutions. Several features like drawing and annotating on 3D screens can improve the communication between doctors and patients. 

What is the Cost of AR eCommerce?

When it comes to Augmented reality, people make use of phone cameras or smart glasses to see virtual objects overlapping in the real world. In today’s time, most AR solutions are designed as mobile AR applications. 

One of the biggest upcoming trends is smart glasses and head-mounted displays. So, it is the best time to integrate Augmented reality into your eCommerce store. The overall cost of developing an Augmented reality is based on your business and its needs in terms of skills and technology. 

What are the Challenges involved in Augmented reality eCommerce?

– Limited Content

The biggest challenge of Augmented reality for eCommerce is creating engaging content. Generally, the content for augmented reality devices is all about games and filters on social media channels like Snapchat and Instagram. It is extremely expensive to create content for promoting your business. 

– Physical Safety Risks

There are times when augmented reality applications can be highly distracting and might cause physical injuries. Several people were hurt playing Pokemon Go on the busy streets. If augmented reality apps are used on busy roads or construction sites, they can cause serious injuries to users. 

– Lack of Regulations

At this point, there are no rules that guide businesses to understand the ways to use AR applications. Due to this, AR can be used for various types of malicious activities. 

Comparison Between AR and VR – What is more Effective?

Augmented Reality is the real world

Augmented reality showcases a world that is in existence already and you will also start believing to some extent. On the other hand, Virtual reality is an immersive experience that leads you to an artificially created world. You can neither see nor experience the real world. 

Pokemon Go is one of the best examples of augmented reality. Users could play this game while they were in the street surrounding the real environment. The best thing is all of this could be experienced on a cellphone. 

Augmented Reality is more portable

With augmented reality, you just need a phone or AR glasses to access it. You can be in the same environment without having to clear your room and the stuff in it. You can have fun without making any extra effort. 

Whereas in virtual reality, you need to wear a headset and have controllers in your hands. Apart from that, you need to ensure that your physical environment is safe. Avoid being the person who punches the television while playing the boxing game. 

More people can experience AR when compared to VR

Augmented reality needs lesser equipment and safety precautions. If you’re into virtual reality, you need to have the proper equipment and need to focus on safety precautions. Due to this, people tend to use more augmented reality than virtual reality. 

Which Industries have applied AR eCommerce to their businesses?

Fashion Accessories

Lenskart is a simple website meant for eyeglasses. But, then what makes it different from others? Well, it is the way they use augmented reality eCommerce for their products. 

Lenskart uses AR technology for creating a 3D mesh of your face within 5 seconds. With this, you can try almost 10,000 designs in one sitting. They have both online and offline stores. But their main focus is to provide customers with the flexibility to try glasses virtually wherever they want.

Gaming

It was back in 2016 when Pokemon Go came into existence. It is an amazing combination of the real and digital worlds. It is one of the best games that use augmented reality in the best way possible. But after some time, the game saw a decline among users. The reason is the injuries that people went through by playing an AR-powered game on busy streets. 

Home & Decor

IKEA has come up with a new augmented reality application that lets its users test their products in real-time. Apart from that, it also provides its customers with 3-D renderings from different angles of over 2,000 products. This technology is majorly used for large furniture like sofas, armchairs, and storage units. 

With the use of augmented reality eCommerce, IKEA has increased its customer base. People are now more comfortable buying their products through their websites. 

Social Media (Snapchat)

Snapchat is one of the first social media applications that came up with augmented reality. Today, it is one of the leaders in terms of the augmented reality revolution. This particular application enhanced user applications by making everyday activities more engaging and fun. Everything around you looks different as social media companies integrate AR into their products.

Augmented reality is the reason why Snapchat is still so popular among its users. Every day they come up with something new and surprise their audiences. 

Is it really difficult to deal with Augmented Reality eCommerce?

Generally, everyone thinks that it is extremely difficult to switch to augmented reality eCommerce. But to your surprise, it is not as difficult as it seems to be. A handful of app developers integrate Shopify along with 3D asset creation space. There was a time when it was essential to send a product to a 3D model developer to create a 3D model. But with the changing times, things have changed too. All you have to do is opt for mobile scanning. With mobile scanning, you can take several 2D images of a product, which are then converted to 3D.

Suppose you are a plus merchant and want to access this feature, then you need to make a small change to your theme and enable it in your online storefront. If currently, you are using a custom theme or a theme developed by a third party, you should contact the concerned person. They will let you know if your theme supports 3D models or videos.

To ensure that customers can see your products in AR, you need to make 3D models of your products. To create a 3D model, you need to provide your developer with some photos of your product. 

While you are taking pictures of the product, keep these guidelines in mind. 

• Ensure to take extra pictures of any specific detail or texture.
• The product should be under good lighting conditions and must be in focus. 
• If the product is large, use a camera with a 50-millimeter lens. For products that are small and medium-size, use a 70-millimeter or 100-millimeter lens.

Conclusion

Augmented reality is flourishing and is also expected to expand in the upcoming years. It is said that by the year 2024, it will be worth around $300 billion. With each passing day, you will see a boost in its accuracy. 

Talking about AR eCommerce, NFTs (non-fungible tokens, or unique digital assets) are already in trend. Many digital brands have started using it to provide real-life experiences to their customers. It is difficult to imagine but, the future is here, Augmented reality eCommerce is becoming huge among customers. 

Brands are always looking forward to boosting their conversion rates and mint more profits. With augmented reality eCommerce, you will get better conversion rates and profits too. AR for eCommerce gives businesses a chance to make a better and more interactive shopping experience for customers.