The Truth About the AR Disruption in Retail

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The Truth About the AR
Disruption in Retail
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The Truth About the AR Disruption in Retail
Mankind is an unpredictable species visionary
but confused about the end goal, innovative but
apprehensive to change, evolving digitally but
demands personalization, needs an escape from
reality but also wants to stay close to it. If
you take a good look at the developments
happening in each sector, this indecisiveness
becomes clearer with mankind oscillating like a
pendulum from one end to another. Or, probably
the indecisiveness is due to the inherent
greediness which compels tech gurus to invent
continuously and rapidly. Whatever advancements
have seen light of the day in the past few
decades, technological or otherwise, caused
maximum commotion in one industry more than any
other Retail. With introduction of big box
giants likes Walmart, individual stores were
forced to either merge with the invaders or get
pushed out of the picture entirely. Advent of
ecommerce further took the toll on small-time
retailers and resulted in a drop of their sales,
making online presence inevitable. There were
still shoppers who preferred physical stores over
online ones, which is evident from just 11.2
ecommerce sales out of the total retail sales in
the last quarter of 2018. Now, to bridge this gap
between online and offline shopping, retailers
are taking one step forward into modernization
with Augmented Reality (AR). Consumers today
value in-store experience more than anything,
which subsequently translates into brand loyalty.
Businesses are also concentrating on yielding
utmost user satisfaction by creating a seamless
experience for their customers. AR equips them to
manufacture great experience within their product
or service offerings. Google Insights revealed
that about 61 consumers will prefer to shop in
the stores that offer AR. As per Michael
Valdsgaard, A pioneer of digital transformation
at Inter
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The Truth About the AR Disruption in Retail
IKEA systems, smartphones will disappear within
the next 10 years and everything will be
available everywhere at all times through voice
and visual interfaces, with no keyboards
involved. All of us might as well have our very
own J.A.R.V.I.S. It may seem too far-fetched at
the moment, but so did a telephone at some point
of time. AR is no longer a distant dream. It is
already penetrating the retail gateways and
transforming user experiences. IKEA set the
precedent years ago and now everyone is finally
following suit. By analyzing the AR evolution
over the past decades and expected trends in the
years to come, let us try to understand how real
the augmented retail reality is. The cash
in-flow for AR in retail As per a report, the
augmented reality market is expected to reach
7951.2 Million by 2023 at a CAGR of 47.1.
Apples ARKit, Googles ARCore, and Snaps Lens
Studio are all narrating a winning story for AR,
more so in retail sector. As industry giants are
realizing ARs true potential, the investments
are on a rise. Only a few months ago, Alibaba
acquired InfinityAR, a start-up that provides an
OS which has the capability to convert any device
into a powerful content augmentation platform.
More AR-centered MAs such as Metaio by Apple,
Oculus by Facebook, and Magic Leap by Google
further proves the strengthening grasp of
augmented reality in retail.
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The Truth About the AR Disruption in Retail

Lets talk business What AR has to
offer? Succinctly put higher revenues, happy
customers. Augmented reality platforms allow
buyers to superimpose a product in an actual
physical setting, giving them a precise idea
about its look and feel. This instills confidence
among the users about their purchase and
significantly helps in reducing the return rates.
IKEA was prompted to develop an AR app when it
realized that 14 of its clients bought a wrong
sized furniture in the past. The widespread
digital transformation has created the belief
that print media is counting its last days. AR is
becoming the magic potion that rejuvenates it to
life. An AR-driven, interactive, immersive print
campaign provides a window to access relevant,
boundless content that is free from the space
limit of a paper. Such content delivery platform
allows retailers to explore the possibilities of
market their product at a whole new level, while
establishing a favorable brand image. The Italian
scooter brand, Vespa, leverages AR benefits to
provide its customers with the option of
customizing their own scooter by a simple scan of
a magazine ad. Read Full Blog at
https//www.cigniti.com/blog/augmented-reality-te
sting-in-retail/
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