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.

The past decade held immense changes to the world with the constant emergence of new technologies it has witnessed and the greater is yet to come. Although tech developers have been tirelessly working in the past few years on improving XR experiences, this year is expected to witness a revolutionary crossing-bridge towards far more advanced features and realities.

Therefore, the biggest and most effective investment businesspeople can now make is integrating virtual and augmented reality accessibility into their sector as their global market size is predicted to reach $38 billion by 2026 . To help you better understand this year’s tech status, we compiled a list of the top 7 AR and VR trends you need to watch for in 2022.

1.VR and AR will change the educational and training system

It took us a global pandemic to realize how easier, more effective, faster, and safer digital learning and working can be. It is crucial to adapt to the current situation to keep going and this year is the one that will witness the most change in this industry.

Introducing VR and AR technologies to this sector will result in a better growing and learning process as it will help individuals immerse themselves in the information they are exposed to. In other words, they will not solely act as receptors of dry messages. They will have a chance to experience lessons and pieces of training by envisioning and picturing them. This will enable an increasing chance of better understanding, grasping, and retaining information. The learning process will no longer be just theoretical but also leaps to becoming a more practical one as well.

This will enable an increasing chance of better understanding, grasping, and retaining information. The learning process will no longer be just theoretical but also leaps to becoming a more practical one as well.

2.VR headsets will be produced in masses

This year is going to be the time in which we are close to starting living virtually. The educational and training system mentioned earlier is one in a sea of industries that will include VR and AR technologies in their sector, and headsets are crucial to hop on this futuristic concept. Witnessing a mass production of VR headsets in 2022 is not farfetched as they are predicted to become devices used by everyone just like mobiles are.

What aided in accelerating the production of VR headsets is the announcement Mark Zuckerberg made about the rebranding of Facebook into Meta and the creation of the new Metaverse. The tech giant, along with a few other companies such as Google, Microsoft, and Apple already started investing billions of dollars in building the most advanced and qualitative VR headsets, hardware, and software.

3.AR will change the way we shop online

Just when we thought online shopping has become an easier and faster process than in-store experience, AR stepped in to make it even easier and more effective. As much as we would like to think that shopping for products and services online is practical, we cannot disregard the fact that what we order might sometimes not fit, size, or even meet our expectations in real life. This is where AR steps in to solve this issue. These technologies will now more than ever create an engaging and immersive shopping experience that satisfies the wants and needs of consumers and clear their pain points. Integrating Augmented Reality on eCommerce websites allows customers to indulge in a try-before-you-buy procedure during their online purchase.

This opportunity not only feels more practical and effective for buyers but it also results in a 94% higher conversion rate  , helping businesses reach their sales goals. Going further, in-store customers can also benefit from VR and AR since many businesses have already started to work on virtual mirrors for try-on purposes. In the ever-evolving and fast-paced world we live in, this saves time and effort when going out shopping. In addition, tech developers are now ready to launch a new concept that displays feedback and reviews on products when in-store to take into consideration before buying them.

4.AR will be merged with Artificial Intelligence (AI)

As widely known, artificial intelligence is the ability of machines fed with data to do what humans can do but at a faster scale and more efficiently. Now imagine what wonders AI could do when combined with Augmented Reality. The result of pairing them together is one of the most interesting and advanced in the industry. It allows profound neural networks by replacing traditional approaches and implementing advanced features such as scene labeling, object detection, and text analysis. Once again, this shows how new technologies are helping us immerse, interact, and engage with our surroundings whether they are people, situations, objects, systems, etc.

5.AR will continue to develop in the automotive industry

Self-driving cars was always a concept we thought would be impossible to reach. However, with every new technology created, we are getting closer and closer to that. Even though very few are already manufactured, new upgraded features continue to appear with every new car model for now thanks to the ongoing development of AR. For instance, Mercedes is a leader in adding sophisticated AR-based features to its cars.

New vehicles manufactured now can show you the distance between your car and the one in front of you and notify you when you are getting off your lane or when you are close to arriving at an intersection. Without Augmented Reality, none of these ultra-modern features would have existed. This shows how essential AR is nowadays to ensure our safety and security, as well as to lead an easier and more practical, and efficient way of living.

6.AR and VR will play a role in developing the Metaverse

The word Metaverse has been heard on repeat lately by people and the mass media. However, it is not a new concept that emerged overnight. It has been there for quite a long time and most recently, some elements of it are found in the gaming industry (Minecraft, Fortnite, World of Warcraft, etc.). So what exactly is the Metaverse? In simple terms, it is a 3D virtual place where people can connect and socialize and is mainly based on advanced AR, VR, and video technologies. These components are the reason behind people’s ability to virtually hold business meetings for instance or studying, shopping, attending concerts, and much more exceptional activities. Augmented reality is responsible for immersing virtual objects into real life and VR is used to develop 3D computer modeling to engage in a unique virtual space.

You can think of the Metaverse as an experience, a replication of the physical world that eases communications and networks, enhancing the real presence feeling. Even though incredible amounts of money are being poured into developing 5G, VR, and AR technologies to make the Metaverse a thing, creators will have to solve many issues standing in their way. This year, more than ever, tremendous effort are being put into this, and hopefully, the full vision of the Metaverse sees light soon.

7.AR NFTs will become a widespread phenomena

Let’s start by defining what an NFT actually is as it might still sound confusing to some. In simple terms, non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are digital assets existing on the blockchain proving ownership of any digital object, be it virtual or physical. Unlike cryptocurrencies (Bitcoin, Ethereum, Binance Coin, etc.) that can be replaced or exchanged for the same value, NFTs are extremely unique and scarce that they cannot be so. No two are identical. Interestingly enough, they can represent literally anything you can think of: physical art, photographs, tweets, essays, in-game items, videos, music, etc.

When augmented reality and non-fungible tokens intertwine, these art pieces and moments representations are elevated to enable their visualization in an environment. To frame it in other words, AR is giving the chance for people to immerse themselves in a 3D experience of NFTs. This phenomenon is exceptional as it eases the selling, buying, and accessibility to NFTs, all while rewarding the initial creator like artists, auctioneers, and commerce retailers

Bottom line:

In today’s digital world, there is no escape from augmented reality and virtual reality. They provide companies with more benefits, privileges, and revenues in the easiest ways possible, as well as earn them customer loyalty and satisfaction. That said, it is never too late for organizations to invest in AR and VR as they are guaranteed to lead them a successful road.