Canadian augmented reality (AR) firm Nextech has expanded its partnership with Kohls, a leading department store chain, for an ambitious technological solution, the company announced on Tuesday.
Nextech first partnered with the United States franchise after the latter chose Threedly.ai’s WebAR for eCommerce solution to deliver AR content for customers.
Nextech acquired Threedly.ai as part of its business operations, and later, Kohls’ Innovation Center began extensive product testing to vet the platform’s return on investment.
The recent expansion will see a massive scaling of WebAR to build “thousands of new 3D models” for people shopping at Kohl’s, where customers can review products in AR format.
Nima Sarshar, Chief Technology Officer with Nextech, said,
“When 3D ecommerce solutions are done right, the results can be incredibly rewarding. Not only financially, but also the joy of seeing your product used by millions of customers practically overnight.”
Nextech’s leverage over such solutions was a “real value proposition” for major retailers such as Kohl’s.
The developments come just after US tech giant Google selected Nextech as an Early Access Partner for the its 3D AR Search Programme, allowing Kohl’s 3D models to appear in Google search results.
Evan Gappelberg, Chief Executive Officer of Nextech, added,
“Kohls is an example of a large retailer that quickly recognized the potential for WebAR to enhance its online business. Augmented reality in e-commerce can not only drive sales, but reduce customer returns as the buyer feels a higher level of product familiarity before placing the order – the latter being a key point for many e-commerce customers”
Threedly’s AI technologies, combined with Nextech’s AR platform, could allow retailers to reach “the necessary scale” vital to their eCommerce businesses, he concluded.
Nextech Scales Up AR Efforts
The developments come as Nextech announced it would integrate its 3D advert solutions with leading AR social medial platforms such as Snapchat, Instagram, and Facebook, to tap into Google’s huge 3D advertisement networks and billions of the three platform’s daily active users.
It also launched its HoloX creative content platform, allowing artists and 3D content creators to earn revenues by buying, hosting, and selling products supported by non-fungible tokens. The Vancouver-based company will later integrate HoloX onto Microsoft’s HoloLens 2 mixed reality (MR) headsets.
The efforts aim to expand Nextech’s massive client base to enterprises and organisations, namely after the it bought out UK spatial computing firm ARway earlier in August to develop ‘mini-metaverses’ as virtual spaces for coworking, retail, and event venues.
