Can Businesses Really Benefit From Augmented Reality (AR) Technology?
The COVID pandemic rocked the world in many aspects. Besides the health risks, we have also witnessed the rapid digital transformation of businesses as most retail businesses fought for survival by bringing their businesses online. This resulted in an irreversible change as the convenience of shopping online stays permanently.
We have mentioned the emergence of Metaverse in our previous article, and we strongly believe that the next level of digital transformation – Augmented Reality (AR) Technology, has the potential to restore the glory of physical retail shoppers.
Some of The Pain Points Potentially Faced By Retail Businesses Today
In comparison to e-commerce, traditional retail experiences often face these shortcomings:
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Consumers often lack understanding of the brand’s background and product information
Consumers can find a wealth of information online, from the brand’s background to product information, complete manuals, pictures and sometimes video instructions. In contrast, consumers visiting physical stores may not be able to understand product uses due to lack of knowledge or misinterpretation on the salesperson’s part, which affects impression of the product.
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Salesperson’s Aptitude
The ability of each salesperson can vary and be inconsistent. They may not have sufficient knowledge, patience or are too eager to close deals. Such behavior tends to turn-off customers and affect their shopping experience which in turn impact sales.
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Lack of Sales Information and Word of Mouth Information
Consumers are unaware of the product’s sales volume and reviews of consumers who had used the product(s). As such, they cannot obtain word-of-mouth information and accurately judge the quality of the product(s).
So How Can Augmented Reality (AR) Technology Help Traditional Offline Retailers?
Augmented Reality (AR) Technology can now be experienced across a wide range of devices including computers, TVs, handheld devices such as smartphones, tablets and wearable devices such as glasses, lenses and head-mounted displays.
It can help to improve the retail experiences of consumers in the following ways:
Entertaining Customers
Besides driving foot traffic to physical stores, Augmented Reality (AR) Technology also helps to deliver joy to customers, build brand interest and create novelty experiences for customers who crave for products that keep them interested but still prefer to shop physically. LEGO® whose brand values revolve around imagination, fun, creativity and learning is one great example that has made use of such technology. Customers can simply pick up a box of LEGO® and put it in front of a screen panel to view scenes of how they can play and enjoy the products! (Watch how LEGO® uses a screen panel in their store to bring a set of toys alive:
Educating Customers
Augmented Reality (AR) Technology allows information to be delivered to the customer in an interactive and visually appealing manner while helping them understand complex mechanisms of the product. INTERACTO, a company focused on AR & VR solutions is another example of how retailers implement AR retail applications. Shoppers can use the tablets provided in-store to “move over” a range of products to see descriptions, pricings, origins and usage.
Enhancing Post-purchase Experience
Customers can conveniently experience a unique way of getting information, content or support from pre-purchase till post-purchase. For instance, LEGO® customers can download the LEGO® AR Builder mobile app and scan the box for a realistic “Step-by-Step” guide-through to assemble their models. Besides providing clear instructions, trust and brand loyalty are also built at the same time.
Helping Customers Evaluate Products
Besides offering customers a chance to visualize products in their actual consumption contexts, Augmented Reality (AR) Technology also helps to increase customers’ confidence, aids shoppers exploring and visualizing products in real life, thus making them feel more comfortable with their purchase decision. They can also make comparisons across different products and reduce irrelevant options.
NPN’s N-Egift Solution is Southeast Asia’s first Augmented Reality (AR) Gift Card Solution. Interested to deploy digital transformation and Augmented Reality (AR) across your business? Read and contact us via https://www.retailtechnpn.com/sg/n-egift/ today!
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