How Augmented Reality is redefining UX in eCommerce space

Any technology that can improve user experience will find its way into ecommerce industry. Many technologies deliver incremental changes, whereas only a few will redefine, touch and impacts human experience. Augmented reality (AR) is truly one such technology which is revolutionizing industries and allowing brands to create new immersive experiences for their customers by individualizing offers and enabling them to visualize products in different settings.

              “Gartner Says 100 Million Consumers Will Shop in Augmented Reality Online and In-Store by 2020 ”

Although AR has been around for more than a decade, AR is likely to disrupt online selling with its ability to personalize and enhance shopping experience in the coming years. That is why companies like Apple, Google, and Facebook have invested heavily to make AR more accessible, understanding the potential of this technology.

It superimposes digital information onto the physical environment, thus opening opportunities for novel consumer experiences. To enjoy AR-powered experiences, the end users don’t need any additional hardware (as in case of virtual reality). This makes adoption much easier.

For example: “Lenskart.com has implemented AR in its website to offer 3D glass trial option online to its customers. This enables their customers to have a try at different spectacles and select the one that best describes their facial appearance and all of these are done by sitting at home. This way lenskart has accelerated user experience to the next level”.

What key problem AR is bridging?

Any brand or a product need a level of trust from the user to make a purchase decision. E-commerce innovators across the globe are striving hard to overcome this barrier that consumers face while shopping for products online. Unimaginable large number of sales are lost or delayed indefinitely because of the shopper’s inability to confidently evaluate and envision the sense of using the product. 

                                                                       “72% eCommerce sites fail search expectations”
                                                                                                                  -    BigCommerce

Augmented reality bridges this gap significantly. By helping users visualize the products in the real use case scenario, AR makes a major boost in getting e-shoppers to feel comfortable and even enthusiastic about a potential purchase.

AR/VR sector revenue growth projection

Source: Digital capital

How AR enhances the UX?

Enhanced Experience

Users have been making purchase decisions based on 2D images. With AR, it becomes even more intuitive to check the product in 3D in real world set-up. Deciding on a product has become easier, with options to customize the product can even be offered.

                                         “By 2020, almost 46% retailers plan to deploy AR for customer experience” - Gartner

Demand Generation

Having had the ability to try the product in a duplicated real-world environment, it builds up curiosity and will help in driving better traffic results. 
 

Source: Digital trends spotlight

Success rate

Having tried the product in real world using AR, there is less chance for the product not to meet the expectation of the user. It helps reduce the return rate and a perfect build up for a positive overall purchase experience for the user.

Customization and Personalization

With the ability to personalize the product virtually, the users can have endless options and can even make a product customized for their use. Being able to customize a product as per their needs enhances the shopping experience and boost sales.

Tailor made 

AR is also capable of scaling based on real world measurements. With help of techniques like this, it will be easy to make perfect fit tailor-made products. This will have many use cases where one-size fit all is not going to be applicable anymore. 

Bottom Line

AR offers benefits focusing on better customer satisfaction and experience with an increase in the rate of sales. Within a short period of time, augmented reality (AR) as an evolving technology will be widely accepted as a standard in the industry. Many eCommerce platforms are now capable of handling AR, which makes adaptation to AR even easier now than before. But, AR has its own standards and implementing it to an eCommerce platform is a stringent process. Digital agency partners with high eCommerce expertise and AR enablement acumen is needed for any organization to implement AR powered eCommerce platform. So, implementation at its best will boost sales and elevate your brand value.

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