Augmented Reality
Keeping the threads continue from the last post ‘How Useful Augmented reality is Part 1’ we are going to explore more categories of industries benefitting from the recent Augmented Reality tech advancements. Fortunately, each business or industry niche has several applications to cite.
Let’s explore more.
Commercial AR Applications
Augmented reality is gradually changing the scenario of B2B and B2C businesses by providing astounding AR applications. The most beneficial niche among the various commercial sectors is retail.
However, AR journey started earlier, by 2010 the virtual dressing rooms were ready to server ecommerce and several brick stores. By the way, let’s check the areas of AR commercial applications and apps used by the niche industries.
Product Previews App
If you think your customers can view the virtual preview of the product packed with the package without opening it at all, AR app Lego is the excellent example of it.
Lego exhibits product animation to kids and parents in funny yet informative ways. The app uses image recognition technology instead of instead of code on the box to identify the product and start relevant AR animation on it.
Lego uses 2nd generation Sandy Bridge Intel Processor to popup 3D animation over the top of the box. The animation moves and rotates with the box by recognizing the movements and postures of the box.
It saves the time of salespeople to open a sample box and handover costly products to the naughty kids. Moreover, it provides a lot of fun and helps in attracting more visitors for in-store purchases.
The AR Dressing Room App
Fashion and apparel businesses have a common issue to convince the customers prior to final purchase, and it is the selection of the best fit by trying it in the dressing room.
It occupies dressing rooms heavily and waiting for longer becomes intolerable for many hurried shoppers. Topshop with Kinect has created AR dressing rooms to overcome the problem at some extents. The Gap has followed the trends.
AR dressing rooms provide AR devices to focus on the targeted product and obtain its virtual 3D image to see how it could be on your body.
However, the creation of AR dressing room needs a depth-sensing camera and virtual 3D assets of the products. These requirements can prohibit the spread of AR dressing room from big chain store brands to SMBs.
AR Triggered Products App
The AR technique used by a mint in 2012 to market a commemorative coin of Aruba. The AR event triggered automatically with focus on Aruba coin by the AR hardware. The AR event revealed additional objects and info, which was invisible without the coin.
Makeup and Beauty Style App
Shiseido has developed a makeup mirror to help the women who love to see how the beauty product will look like on their face without actually using it. The AR mirror accurately portraits the image of customer and depicts in real-time that how lipsticks, eyeliner, and blushes would look like on the face of the customer.
Thus, AR mirror helps to visualize the product performance and styles before making the buying decision.
Another example in the category is Burberry Beauty Box AR application. For instance, it provides a nail bar application. Shoppers can choose their skin tone with the app and paint different polishes on the bar to check how the polishes look in real life.
Art Market App
In 2015, Itondo, a Luxembourg startup developed AR app to visualize the art piece on your walls before even going to a gallery and purchase it. It provides Live Preview to view the 2D image of artwork scales on the walls. It also provides Background Preview to put the artwork on the pre-saved images of the walls of the user’s premise.
Thus, the app renders artwork more appropriate before buying it.
AR Color Changing App
American Apparel has colorful product collections. The store has used AR application to make the right choice of color easily by trying it out virtually while in-store buying process.
Moreover, the app displays real-time reviews and ratings from the customers who already purchased it and posted online. It has helped to get back online shoppers into the real world stores.
AR Fitting App
De Beers is a big brand name in jewelry niche. It has turned to AR application for its diamond loaded products. It provides images in a Forevermark Fitting site that need to download and print on paper.
Once the AR app focuses on the image, it picks it and displays as the AR image loaded on the real-time image of the customer who wants to try it. Therefore, the wearer has worn the actual jewelry item, and it moves with the wearer in the real-time.
The wearer also can check how the product looks in certain lights and against the certain skin tones. It helps a great to make a right buying decision for such costly products.
The AR Catalog
The product catalog for certain items like furniture cannot test in real life for real environment. Moreover, mere 3D images of the products seem useless when someone wants to see the furniture product in real life home or office.
IKEA has launched their AR catalog to visualize how certain pieces of furniture look and fit in the real world space of home or office. App measures the size of products against the surrounding room and fixture to provide life-size experiences.
Thus, customers can gauge the benefits and issues come with the product in the real world and make the right decision of purchasing it.
The AR Personal Shopper App
IBM has released an AR app that helps shoppers to obtain detailed information regarding the focused product in the self without touching it or inviting sales assistants to describe it.
The AR personal shopping app also can provide personalized experiences, and personalized marketing offers to the in-store visitors in real-time to get the best deal if it is syncing with Beacons fitted in the store.
AR Shoe Sampler App
The Converse Sampler AR app can help customers to realize the product in real-time. The customer needs to point the smartphone camera at their leg and start the AR app. Shopper requires selecting the shoe from the catalog in the app and app displays the AR image of the shoe on the screen with the leg.
Thus, the shopper can test the product right from home and make an order for it with confidence that it has tested in the real world even without wearing it.
Conclusion:
In the current part, we have explored various commercial Augmented Reality applications along with diverse usages and real-world examples of AR apps available in the market.
By keeping the series ahead, we shall look at the ‘The Useful Augmented Reality Apps Part 1’ post in next week to with many more useful AR apps for different industry niches. A little patience may prove worth for you.
It is true that without the help of an experienced and skilled team of Augmented Reality Application Developers, no business can obtain a cost-effective and functional app for its bespoke requirements.
Try to consult SysBunny in this regard to get the right consultancy if you have made up your mind for an AR appliation for your business.
A zestful developer, always on his toes when it comes to technological advancements. He is an ardent researcher and an earnest consultant who loves interacting with people and solving client issues.