AR in Retail: How Custom AR Apps are Driving Customer Engagement?

0
932

Share on LinkedIn

We never could forget the huge uproar and feverish addiction created by the Pokémon Go as the first AR based mobile game that made people of all ages and walks of life addicted. Well, the magic of seeing the digital avatar having interactions with real-life movements and activities is something very few people could ever experience.

Which completely obstructs a viewer’s surroundings to immerse them in a virtual world, AR is a virtual overlay that works alongside the real world, enhancing physical surroundings with digital images, text, graphics, and video. AR is distinct for its ability to work in tandem with print, providing retailers with the unique ability to pair their print marketing campaigns with digital technology to achieve a deeper level of consumer engagement.

Mobile app developers India are in continuously delivering innovative apps with augmented reality experience to transform the customer experience. Particularly, retail businesses and service providers are increasingly finding augmented reality as the most crucial boost to their effort in engaging customers. Most studies and reports are predicting AR apps to hold the key to boosting customer engagement.

Here are some statistics that reveal the popularity of augmented reality in boosting customer engagement. The following statistics were published in Campaign Live for an AR app.

  • According to the study, the percentage of customers preferring the augmented reality experience of pointing the handheld device to a product for getting the product details increased to a whopping 74%.
  • The same study also revealed that another 26% of customers would prefer the hands-free AR experience offered by smart glasses.
  • In the same survey, around one-third of respondents said that they feel Augmented Reality is reliable to help in the decision-making process of their business.
  • Another study for the same company revealed that AR experience through their app, enhanced customer engagement at least 1.9X times.

Let us now have a look at the most authentic and proven ways augmented reality experience can drive customer engagement across niche apps and business interfaces.

Augmented Reality based BTL Promotion

Below the Line (BTL) promotion based upon AR technology can play a significant role in boosting engagement. The AR-based BTL can help a business get wider audience reach. Such promotions are already being popular among retailers.

Let’s explain how with AR-based BTL promotion you can get mileage while saving cost. When you are promoting your brand by a celebrity presence in your store, instead of ensuring the physical presence of the brand ambassador celebrity in all your stores you can make him appear on the handheld devices, screens behind the product display and advising you in different contexts of your purchases or in-store activities. The pre-recorded sessions on different contexts can appear right when the customer needs advise or a little push to make the final buying decision. Such promotions apart from pushing engagement can play a huge role in boosting the business conversion.

Engaging customers with in-mall immersive augmented reality experience is already getting popular across supermarkets, malls and commercial arenas. The appearance of virtual astronauts to immersive thunderstorms to playgrounds, all these diverse experiences are being incorporated to engage the customers. Most sophisticated and innovative AR based immersive ambience is already being offered by retail malls and commercial stores for quicker customer engagement.

AR-based service offerings to boost sales

Online sales are continuing to take over in-store sales in volume, customer footfall, driving customer engagement and loyalty. But in spite of the rising online sales, typical shopping experience in a store still wins many hearts because of the direct, immediate and physical connection of the ambience. Considering this, many online retailers are now trying to boost customer engagement my mimicking the in-store environment through their online stores. Augmented Reality is offering them a big technological aid in doing this.

A buyer now can decide about buying furniture by positioning the furniture right in the picture of his interior. There augmented reality mobile apps that allow users to decide about the kind of furniture they need based on the dimension, size and atmosphere of the room interior. Buyers now can upload a picture of their room, and the app helps them virtually positioning the new furniture within that pic, and thus the user can easily see how the styling and size of the furniture really fit the room.

In-store engagement like never before

Augmented Reality based shopping apps will continue to hold the key for not only online purchases but also a vast majority of offline purchases at the store in the future. Already AR powered retail apps are in place that helps users to access detailed product information right on their mobile screen while just scanning the product code within the store. Such experience can further be extended to make a customised offer, promotions and special discounts to customers based on the product scanned, the stores location and customer data.

Real-time analytics of customer data coupled up with augmented reality-based product scanning can just do wonder in engaging customers quickly. Capability to get quick information on products right in the mobile screen will boost sales, and on the other hand, this will help customers get custom or personalised offers from the store because of the real-time analytics of customer data.

Retailers and brands can customise display and layout

Augmented Reality based retail apps offers a win-win situation for both customers as well as retailers. The retailers and business brands can also have a better judgment of their product display and can design the in-store layout just with the swipe of the finger on an AR-based mobile app. This will help brands and retailers in merchandising their products for the optimum sales output.

To conclude, AR-based retail apps are now in-thing, and they will continue to expand and explode in all directions for the years and months to come. The AR-based retail apps will boost customer engagement in both online and offline stores and will ensure never-before satisfaction in buying experience.

ADD YOUR COMMENT

Please use comments to add value to the discussion. Maximum one link to an educational blog post or article. We will NOT PUBLISH brief comments like "good post," comments that mainly promote links, or comments with links to companies, products, or services.

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here