TUNE IN, TRY ON
Retailers have been delving into the realms of virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) for some time now. A recent study by Deloitte shows that 75% of online shoppers prefer to make purchases on websites that offer AR. As more and more e-commerce retailers start to follow trailblazers like Gucci, Alibaba, and Nike, one crucial question remains: How does immersive commerce, or iCommerce, continue to advance without just being about widgets and gadgets?
The most common augmented shopping experiences today can be divided into three categories:
“Try On” for wearable goods
“Try Out” for items that can be placed in your personal environment, and
“Interact” for products like electronics.
Warby Parker was one of the first brands to be known primarily for their “Try On” capabilities, first physically, as they mailed a variety of eyeglass frames to prospective customers, and then making the natural progression to AR. This early move placed them perfectly as health concerns made in-person shopping an impossibility for much of 2020.
Case Studies
L’Oreal
L’Oreal’s chief digital officer, Lubomira Rochet, recently summed up the brand’s inevitable decision to move into AR in the clearest of terms, stating, “We now consider virtual make-up try on to be the least of any experience. At the end of the day the only barrier to buying is wondering what it will look like.” Since launching in 2019, L’Oreal’s AR makeup experiences have doubled website engagement time and tripled conversion.
Wayfair
US furniture retailer, Wayfair, recently tested AR on their app and found that customers who used the feature to “see” a sofa or rug in their home while shopping produced a 65-69% conversion rate, which is staggering when you consider furniture typically falls below the average e-commerce conversion rate of a mere 2.27%.
Nike
Nike’s SNKRS app has had tremendous success in changing the ways in which sneakerheads experience getting their hands on the latest limited or rare drops. While these products are unlikely to go unsold, the more impressive hurdle is that Nike is transforming the process of getting the newest Jordans from an ordeal into an event.
Conclusion
Rendering dozens or hundreds or even thousands of products into 3D images isn’t the only road to success. China’s Singles Day incorporates live-streamed events, virtual celebrity appearances including music performances that are exclusive to specific customer groups, and other opportunities for customers to interact with brands. Their efforts paid off in 2019 when Singles Day yielded $58 billion dollars over a 24-hour period.