Last month, the world’s most popular eCommerce platform, Amazon, debuted an augmented reality (AR) powered feature for smartphones that enables shoppers to overlay virtual products in their real-world environment.
Amazon AR View allows shoppers to place digital products in their homes, enabling an individual to assess if details like size or colour work in a room.
Amazon’s “View in your Room” AR feature is pretty cool pic.twitter.com/jq05LKxkBj
— Frank Passalacqua (@randomfrankp) March 31, 2019
The Seattle, Washington firm’s latest toolkit accurately recreates a digital twin of physical products for accurate item previews. Additionally, users can turn the digital assets on an axis to perfect place their potential purchase.
The feature is available through the Amazon smartphone app on iPhone and Android, and Amazon AR View is available for Android mobiles that support Google’s ARCore platform. Recently, the Mountain View-based company updated ARCore to include around 30 new smartphone models.
Enhancing Buyer Journeys and User Experience
The news comes after popular photo-sharing app Pinterest introduced its AR Decour app that, much like Amazon AR View, lets users visualise products in their homes before purchase.
Pinterest’s AR feature contains 20,000 interior design items such as sofas, lamps, and desks for various retail firms such as Crate & Barrel, CB2, Target, Walmart, Wayfair, and West Elm.
In January, Matterport partnered with French virtual reality (VR) developer Retail VR for in-person and immersive retail solutions. The partnership enabled stores to employ digital twins to enhance buyer journey. Previously, Retail VR used immersive solutions to improve global campaigns for clients like Nespresso, WD-40, and Kenzo, among others.
Shopping in the Metaverse
The growing Metaverse marketplace provides a new space for brands to expand their market reach using services such as Horizon Worlds, The Sandbox, and Decentraland.
Meta Platforms Inc, the company behind Horizon Worlds, recently debuted a selection of monetisation tools where digital creators can make money based on their Metaverse-based products.
Also, major fast-food franchise Wendys debuted a store on Worlds which provides a place for social interactions, games, and marketing campaigns.
Additionally, major retailer Walmart has also planned to develop Metaverse solutions to improve customer engagement. Conversely, JP Morgan unveiled its Metaverse platform on Decentraland, despite being plagued by user experience issues.
