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How VR and AR are Shaping the Future of eCommerce in 2023?

Introduction

Virtual Reality/Augmented Reality (VR/AR) has made its way to one of the most hyped emerging techs in the world. It has continued its steady march into the eCommerce world increasing brand awareness, revenue, and consumer satisfaction. Adding to your surprise, Levi’s CEO in 2019 stated that the following decade will bring an end to sizing. They are planning to replace this process by creating custom-fit apparel. This announcement brought an exponential rise in the eCommerce website development market. 

By equipping their eCommerce apps with techs like VR/AR, retailers are trying to offer their consumers an error-free and friendly shopping experience. There has been a huge change in how businesses function with the advent of such breakthrough technologies. 

However, entrepreneurs have a vague understanding of how VR/AR is transforming the online shopping scene. So, we decided to write this blog that will help our readers understand how emerging techs are adding to their online shopping convenience. 

Let’s start with the basics.

What is Virtual Reality?

Virtual Reality is the efficient use of computer technology to create an immersive but stimulating environment. One of the most recognizable components of Virtual Reality is the head-mounted display (HMD). The top players acing in VR are Oculus Rift, PlayStation VR(PSVR), and HTC Vive.

What is Augmented Reality?

Augmented reality adds a digital layer to your existing real-world environment. You can think of it as Virtual Reality on one foot. As opposed to VR, AR doesn’t create a completely immersive digital environment. VironIT, Microsoft, and Apple are some leading AR companies in the world.

Benefits of VR & AR in eCommerce

Many of the shoppers are skeptical about whether they should invest in a photo or not. This is because at times a product looks good in the photo but looks completely different when delivered. With the efficient use of AR & VR devices, you can get over this limitation once and for all. Let’s see the perks that VR & AR offer to online shoppers.

Brick-and-Mortar Shopping Experience

This tech is enabling consumers to enjoy a brick-and-mortar shopping experience while sitting in their cozy homes and tapping on their devices. One can move around in the simulated environment and shop like they’re in the store itself. This would save your users a lot of time while allowing them to make the best of the traditional shopping experiences. 

Try & Buy

We love to try things before buying them. AR saves a lot of time and resources for its users by allowing users to try their products virtually. This is extremely useful while buying things such as sunglasses, clothes, shoes, makeup, and more. For instance, a user can point their smartphone camera at their feet and learn if a particular shoe would suit them. 

Customer Satisfaction

This would be the prime driver for attracting more users. Shopping can release feel-good hormones in people and so should be their virtual shopping experience. Customers don’t expect this much while shopping online.

Your aim should be to offer more than what is expected of your services. And AR/VR are the perfect tools to achieve this feat. By offering an in-house but traditional shopping experience, you can convert your potential consumers into loyal customers.

Decrease in Returns

The biggest limitation with online shopping is that one cannot feel or experience a product. Therefore a consumer can easily make a mistake while choosing the right size or product. To meet these needs the platform has to invest a lot of money and resources. 

AR adds to a user’s convenience by giving them a virtual feel of the product. By investing in such techs you can save a lot on operational costs and reduce the number of returns. 

Increased Brand Awareness

There are plenty of sharks in the eCommerce world. There is no reason for a consumer to remember your platform only because you want to sell the things that they might want to buy. Inculcating AR/VR as part of your shopping experience will become a prominent reason for customers to remember your platform. As your services would offer a unique shopping experience, your app can stand out among your competitors.

Now you’re well aware of the benefits that are offered by AR and VR. Let’s observe the most successful applications of AR/VR technology in eCommerce. 

5 Best Applications of AR/VR

AR for eCommerce

Sephora

Augmented Reality in eCommerce is a blessing in disguise for the beauty and fashion industry. Sephora is an evident example of the same. Using this AR app one can match different shades for your outfit, try and learn different makeups using virtual tutorials, and more. 

Whether you’re experimenting with new makeup styles for yourself or an artist trying your hand at something new, AR apps can surely make your job easier. It has also proven to be a huge money saver as you can try and buy the makeup that works best for you.

It can be a helpful asset to women who like to try new looks. Something they can access at their fingertips. This also avoids the need to conduct a whole lot of refund procedures.

Amikasa

Do you want to choose the perfect furniture for your new home? Then this is the app you should choose. Using this a user can restructure their home, place furniture in your room, experiment with their colors, change the color of your walls, and more. If you’re very keen on creating a dignified feel with your furniture you should surely try this app. Many times we buy things imagining one thing and feel differently when we see the same in reality. The other evident problem can be with the size of your furniture as compared to the size of your room. This app surpasses this limitation. This type of apps can be cumbersome to build without expert programming experience. But you can always hire Augmented Reality developers, who would do the job for you.

Tap Painter

While shifting to a new home or redesigning your old one, one always faces problems while choosing a color for their rooms. At times you want to select different shades of the same color, apps like Tap Painter are a boon for such occasions. You can select colors from well-known brands such as Behr, Sherwin Williams, Benjamin Moore, and more. This app will add wings to your imagination and add value to your investment.

VR in eCommerce

Dior

Everyone likes pleasuring their eyes by venturing into a luxurious boutique, especially when it’sDior. Yes, it’s now possible to take a tour through the Maison Christian Dior boutique without leaving your home. The French website users can now enjoy the immersive 3D and 360-degrees rolling experience. Consumers can easily browse through the store’s candles, soaps, fragrances, lotions, and more and have a close look at them. 

The North Face

The North Face, is a footwear, equipment, and apparel retailer. In recent times, the company has collaborated with the VR hardware and software provider Jaunt. They have created an immersive in-store VR experience to boost consumer experience. 

Along with this as consumer shops in the retail stores, they can take a tour of the Moab desert in Utah, and California’s Yosemite National Park where they can rock climb and trek with athletes Sam Elias and Cedar Wright. 

Ulta Beauty

Ulta Beauty, one of the US’s largest beauty retailers, introduced ‘Sparked’, their lifelike shopping experience using virtual reality. This is a huge step taken by the platform by introducing realistic digital shopping tools in its mobile app in June 2019. 

The store recreates the mall environment where one can browse assortments from Zoeva, Elcie, Love Wellness, and Uoma Beauty. Many different storefronts offer virtual selection on a specific set of products. By choosing a product, a user can see the zoomable product images and also get redirected to the product’s webpage. The virtual store also offers promotional videos. 

AfterWord

This brings us to the end of this interesting read. We’re Technource – an AR development company that also designs proficient mobile and web apps. We aim to add value to our client’s business by creating client-specific software solutions. 

We have successfully implemented AR features for one of the most prominent real estate platforms in the US. Using this feature users can take a virtual tour of a property when their location is detected within the vicinity of the property.

Investments in techs like VR/AR can prove to be a costly affair. And so you must choose a company that has worked with these complex techs. Using our Agile methodology we create a transparent development environment. The client is always a part of the process and can demand changes at any moment. 

The VR/AR market is hot right now, and eCommerce websites are making a run for it. Do you not want to get an edge over your competitors? If yes, then get in touch with us now. You can also hire eCommerce developers and then add VR/AR features to the same. Sign up for a free consultation form on our website and we will get back to you right away.