London-based augmented reality (AR) developers Dent Reality have recently raised $3.4 million in a funding round led by Pi Labs, with additional support from Sugar Capital and 7Percent Ventures.
Dent Reality is developing a retail solution that incorporates AR visualisations and localised mapping technology to provide intuitive navigational tools that create an engaging shopping experience for customers.
The firm designed its solution with grocery stores in mind, although Dent Reality’s website stat that the firm will start accommodating other retailers in the future. In addition, Dent Reality plans to support other customer-facing opportunities such as malls, campuses, airports, and hospitals.
Recipe + shopping list + navigation = supermarket sweep pic.twitter.com/tk5x3ugFHd
— Andrew Hart (@AndrewHartAR) July 19, 2021
High-street retailers wanting to join the AR revolution ahead of time can sign up to Dent Reality’s Development Partner Programme to receive direct support from the UK startup. Also, customers who want to try it out themselves can sign up Dent Reality’s early access trials.
Currently, Dent Reality is trialing and testing its AR system at a Marks & Spencer store in Westfield London.
Powerful Navigation Tool for Retailers
Dent Reality’s AR platform is an in-store software, meaning that retailers can create a personalised navigational system to engage with shoppers.
On top of this, the solution has an easy onboarding process and it does not require any in-store hardware, enabling retailers to affordably scale the platform across various locations.
The platform enables customers to easily find products or discover new items while browsing a busy grocery store. Dent Reality’s AR system seamlessly displays real-time 3D directions and product visualisations for a customer to follow.
Additionally, Dent Reality provides retailers with a handy built-in tool that tracks actionable data on in-store customer behaviour. Retailers can use this to drive sales with real time product suggestions.
The demand for AR-enhanced retail opportunities is on the rise firms such as Dent Reality, Walmart, Zeekit, and Raydient all providing unique AR solutions. The demand is support by the Impact of Augmented Reality in Retail study that showed 61 percent of shoppers would prefer to go to a store with AR support.
