Online shoppers, especially Gen Z and Millenials, are now more than ever vocal about the importance of sustainability. Around 85% of this population considers that it is extremely important for companies to adopt eco-friendly strategies. With more awareness being raised about it, consumers’ decision-making process is not solely affected by the efficacy of the product anymore. It is also about the community’s and the planet’s needs.

Reducing Emissions from Transportation

Every year, transportation contributes around 20% to greenhouse emissions on a global scale. This plays a direct role in catalyzing the climate change process which has drastic consequences on the planet and humanity’s existence. By using AR technology, users are not required to be physically present in-store anymore when purchasing products. Whether they are looking for furniture, kitchen appliances, beauty products, eyewear and footwear items, or any other option, online shoppers can now make use of Spatial Augmented Reality in a variety of ways. Brands are making it easier for users to visualize in 3D the exact size and fit of their prospects’ desired items so they could immerse themselves in exceptional experiences, all while supporting the environment’s sustainability. In that case, companies are not only engaging customers with their products but are also ensuring their return rates are reduced by over 25%.

Building Sustainable Smart Cities

With people increasingly sensing the climate change’s heat, smart cities attempt to include climate-resilient infrastructure by embedding digital add-ons that boost convenience and help in governance. Within smart cities, AR may give ongoing feedback, allowing everyone to make important and informed decisions in their daily lives to preserve sustainability. In other words, urban settings will become more people-centered. As a result, transportation, public safety and health, tourism, and asset management may all benefit from it.

Sustainability in Developing Infrastructure

In the construction sector, Augmented Reality has also been gaining traction. This technology, when used effectively, may help companies win more deals, interact with team members, train and increase the safety of workers, and, ultimately, assure a sustainable environment. To successfully achieve infrastructure sustainability, governing bodies have a vital role in creating supportive and clear policy and regulatory frameworks, publishing, communicating, and analyzing data, and finally mobilizing finance by putting a price on carbon and developing tax incentives.

Monitoring Waste Management

Augmented Reality allowed consumers to look beyond items, giving them more information about these products and brand identification. This technology enabled a more tailored buying experience, blurring the lines between e-commerce and traditional retail. One example that helped tremendously in reducing waste materials is QR codes, which came back to life big time due to the pandemic after seeming like a dying fad for a while. When adopting this automation, the packaging is turned digital instead of having raw, non-recyclable, and mostly non-degradable material.

Over the past couple of years, the world of commerce has drastically changed; thus, businesses were required to adapt accordingly. They witnessed a shift in their consumers’ online purchasing behavior with record sales increasing by over 40% from 2019 due to the closure of physical stores. Now more than ever, more money is being spent on digital platforms and expectations are getting higher by the day. With more money being poured come new opportunities to get to wider audiences, grow faster, and increase the number of prospects acquired. As a result, brands must recognize and conquer their challenges to reach this success that satisfies their people’s desires.

3D Product Digitization and Commerce

Over the past couple of years, companies have been hurling to create immersive experiences for customers to improve their online shopping journey. The 3D product digitization is now becoming more and more popular among big brands who are taking commerce to a whole other level with it. Customers do not have to guess anymore about what their desired pair of jeans would look like on them or if the new fridge has the right size and fit well in their kitchen. Using augmented reality technology as such has proven to strengthen trust between organizations and customers and give the formers enough confidence to purchase whatever item they want to get.

Personalized Commerce Experience

A new trend we see companies making use of nowadays is personalizing not only content but an entire customer journey. Collecting data to target certain niches has been a tactic adopted by marketers for a while now; however, brands are looking to go even further and tailor one-to-one commerce journey personalization. Fortunately, they can now provide each consumer with a highly tailored and unique experience using machine learning, smart website features, and online monitoring technology. Therefore, from now on, companies are shifting their focus on conversion optimization to boost their sales and increase revenues.

Sustainable Commerce

Renewable energy, sustainable environmental practices, and long-term sustainable thinking are becoming increasingly popular among consumers and governments. Therefore, to build a more credible reputation and a stronger bond with their audience, companies have no other choice but to meet their needs and adopt green approaches in their commerce strategies. This method ascertains people prefer them over their competition; thus, they are guaranteed to witness instant increased profits.

Supply Chain Adaptation in Commerce

Instead of waiting for existing issues to be resolved, many brands are looking for solutions to enhance their supply chains, as supply chain disruption becomes the new norm. With major changes occurring in the past two years, Wassel expects to witness more development in marketplaces, usage of dark shops to assist solve last-mile difficulties, and expansion of drop shipping capabilities to help customers acquire the items they desire.

The Rising of Live Commerce

While live commerce is still not very common among brands and consumers, it is expected to make $35 billion of revenue by 2024 in the United States. Live commerce is the act of having products sold online via live video as customers engage with the company in real-time. This way, people can watch, chat, and purchase all from wherever they are in the world. This new type of commerce is set to create a sense of community that companies create and is provided through influencer and peer-to-peer engagement. This sales strategy allows high-value information to be spread to a large audience. It is also recognized for its capacity to build a long-term trust relationship with customers and prospects. There are three simple stages of live commerce:

• Online viewers may watch a product presentation and observe how it works in real-time, as well as learn about its benefits and key features.
• They examine the product documents to learn more about the pricing or technical performance, or they contact merchants directly via a chat solution to ask their questions.
• They place a purchase through an integrated link after being persuaded by the demonstration.

“Select an item, add it to your cart, and check out.” When it comes to eCommerce, this simple series of clicks has made our lives easier. For a long time, people have been shopping online. However, our heavy usage of this tool revealed a whole slew of issues we hadn’t seen previously. The inability to exchange or return things is a widespread problem that makes us wary of shopping online. What if it isn’t a good fit? What if it doesn’t turn out well or as expected?

Online 2D product visualization has been proven to be ineffective in resolving such issues. As a result, new technologies have emerged in recent years. Creating VR automation allowed us to fully immerse ourselves in 3D product visualization, removing that “blocking wall.” Despite the fact that this approach solves a wide range of issues, this doesn’t negate that it limits the capacity to interact with data.

A long-lasting pandemic was enough to change our lifestyles, priorities, and behaviors. Just when we thought the world couldn’t get any more digital, new technologies surprise us on the constant. In that sense, retailers didn’t miss the opportunity to accelerate and revolutionize the way we shop.

What is 3D product digitization?

Choosing items based on how we most commonly see them in 2D is slowly becoming of the past. In fact, it’s inconvenient for shoppers now to take risks not knowing how their items would size, fit, or look in real life.

Therefore, the industry is now heading towards 3D product digitization. As its name refers, it is when digital capabilities and physical products are merged to allow buyers to perceive items exactly the way they see them in the three-dimensional world, but through a screen. The best part is that they are still doing all that from the comfort of their home.

How does it work?

We, at Designhubz, have 3 ways of digitizing products but eventually pick the most suitable one depending on the case presented:

3. Utilize our in-house automatic digitization rig! You won’t need to recruit 3D professionals or use augmented reality. Our digitization rig, on the other hand, takes care of everything. It will scan your physical products in 360 degrees and build realistic 3D and AR replicas of them in real-time. These assets are automatically posted into your XR CMS account once they’ve been scanned, allowing you to manage, embed, publish, and distribute them throughout your website, app, social media, and marketing campaigns.

Let’s get a little more technical and describe what we do behind the scenes: We use AI-assisted tools to construct efficient 3D surfaces and QA material aspects (metal, glass, plastic, wood, etc.) “in context.” Following that, we incorporate the product’s pieces or features and send it to the partner’s account for feedback, or in the best-case scenario, we go live immediately. This is true for both methods 2 and 3.

You can learn more about it here.

Benefits of 3D product digitization

3D product digitization is much more than just an arising concept. It’s a whole experience for consumers and a large profit for companies. There is no room for web visitors to make wrong decisions when it comes to purchasing from now on. The try-before-you-buy feature washes all concerns away regarding this issue. Tech developers are able to provide them with a hassle-free buying process.

On another note, organizations are on the gain margin the most. This 3D product digitization technology is allowing them to collect data about their audience to contribute to their insights. This information can be used for better targeting and customer service in the long term. In addition, consumers who use this technology are 66% more likely to engage and trust a company compared to traditional 2D products images. There are also 40% higher chances of converting prospects into buyers and an almost 30% chance of increasing sales prices.

Red Alert for Companies

User experience is the foundation of any business. Without positive feedback and exceptional customer service, companies lose their credibility; thus, their existence as a powerful brand in the industry. To keep customers satisfied, organizations should make sure to maintain their website regularly. People don’t want to land on a malfunctioning website or a page with irrelevant information they are not searching for. The 3D product digitization backend software should maintain its flexibility and smoothness throughout.