The great venture into Augmented Reality - but is it working?
It is no stranger to all that Augmented Reality - better known as AR - took its first step into the retail industry a few years ago. As expected, the merger of AR technology and retail saw a hype due to its provision of convenience, realism, and most importantly, the speeding up of decision-making processes.
The best and one of the most prominent examples would be IKEA Place - the very app launched by IKEA back in 2017 to allow its customers place true-to-scale 3D models in their own space and effectively visualize the placement of IKEA’s curation of furniture against those in their private homes. For many of us, this idea sounds exactly like what we need to speed up our decision-making process in furnishing our homes, which most definitely comes with financial planning and long-term decisions. The same goes for other retailers such as the fashion industry, where fits can be made via AR and seen virtually on the screen.
However, in reality (no pun intended), this technological tool hasn’t been put into use for many shoppers. Based on an Insider Intelligence Ecommerce survey conducted by Bizrate Insights in August 2021 in the US, it seems like the use of AR technology in retail shopping is ostensibly redundant and shoppers are largely indifferent and uninterested in it at all.
What are the possible reasons for this demographic?
Resistance to change
Nothing against the AR technology, but uninterested shoppers are likely to be comfortable with their retail shopping and do not see the need for assistance that AR has to provide.
2. Physical reality might be the key
Imagine making every purchase for your furniture, clothing or makeup without a proper try-on or knowledge on what the touch of it feels like. More often than not, certainty can only be provided in the event that shoppers have the privilege to see and touch the physical item before deciding on the purchase.
3. Proliferation of choices = proliferation of indecisiveness
Well we all know that sometimes being spoiled for choices can deter your decision-making process, just like entering a hawker center and wanting to eat everything but only having the stomach space for one meal. In that aspect, shopping with an idea in mind might be a probable reason for the disinterest as well as low usage numbers of AR.
Indeed this has much relevance to our property industry as potential homeowners are perpetually searching for a space that they can be comfortable in, albeit furnishing being unincluded from most property-hunting. Perhaps, this article may spur you to think of using AR in furnishing your home, or even turn you away from the use of it.
Feel free to share your thoughts with us about what you think about AR, especially in the aspect of home-building! At BCD, we are always glad to hear more opinions and thoughts so we can consistently improve our services to suit you better. After all, our focus is YOU.
