Empty Outlets and Isolated Sales Floors Are Supercharging 3D and AR Shopping

With the ongoing Covid-19 crisis, by now most workforces across the globe have rolled out a work from home model. That said, work from home is old news now. There’s a not-so-new yet much needed trend emerging: the shop-from-home behaviour.

Shop-From-Home Is Getting A Facelift With 3D and AR

The impact of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic on physical retailers and brands has been massive to say the least. With most national governments imposing lockdowns, shopping areas look no less than isolated ghost towns. To add to woes, social distancing is rightfully leading consumers in cities with no such restrictions to also avoid shopping centers and malls. As more consumers stay at home, work from home and shop from home- ecommerce is naturally expected to skyrocket.

In direct response, retailers and brands with a strong digital presence will be able to keep their losses at bay. For instance, Dawn Dobras, CEO of clean beauty company, Credo said that the retailer saw a decrease in in-store sales leading up to store shutdowns this week, however their digital sales increased as more people relied on online shopping.

“People are gradually moving from offline shopping to online and the habit won’t disappear when the epidemic is over. This will have a very positive impact on the whole eCommerce industry,” says Zhong Zhenshan, Vice-president of emerging technology research, IDC.

Amidst growing losses and calls for winning digital strategies and technologies, 3D and Augmented Reality shopping have been propelled into the limelight. And for good reason.

With the ability to not only replicate but in most cases be better than in-store shopping experiences, both 3D and AR-enabled shopping are seeing huge spikes as brands rush to innovate their digital strategies and stay ahead of the curve.

In simple terms, 3D and augmented reality allow brands to deliver a try-before-you-buy shopping experience with realistic product visualizations. How is it possible? Wth AR, shoppers can now point their devices to any space in their home or office and choose the item they want to place there. A realistic 3D version of the item is them superimposed into their real-life surrounding- where they can play around with its colors and patterns or move it around to gauge style, fit and size.

How To Ace Ecommerce With 3D and AR?

Given the fact that brands and retailers need to be quick with delivering standout online experiences, 3D and AR both stand to be powerful assets in these difficult times. Unlike static product images or videos, 3D and augmented reality don’t just show you a product. By leveraging these technologies, brands and retailers can now deliver in-store shopping experiences on their websites and apps. In turn, shoppers who are avoiding physical spaces, can try out products before buying them- straight from the comfort of their homes.

Here at Designhubz, our immersive 3D and augmented reality technologies were built to shape the future of online shopping. Little did we know that we could help our clients drastically reduce losses at a time when they need it the most.

3D/AR view of IKEA's furniture created on Designhubz, live on their official website. Go ahead, try placing it in your room.

On our platform, brands and retailers can digitize their physical inventory in no time. For the most part, our platform takes care of the entire digitization process and automatically scans and creates ready-to-use 3D and AR content.

We understand it’s crucial for the retail industry to cure their losses right now. We are providing retailers with an ability to not only stand out, but to engage their customers in a cutting-edge online experience. We’re infusing their physical shopping world with an immersive online shopping experience!

-Nadim Habr, CEO of Designhubz

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