Augmented Reality(AR) will Revolutionize CX in 2020 & Beyond
We are now living in a world dominated by digital interactions, an exponentially growing volume of digital data, connected gadgets (gadget news), and software and mobile applications that penetrate every sphere of our daily life. Already the reality we live in has been changed to a translucent one extending the limits of material reality around us to the virtual one. While playing a game on our mobile handset, we can try to search for the game character in our real-life surroundings. While browsing some furniture online, we can evaluate how they look and fit in the atmosphere of our home with the help of augmented reality right in our mobile device.
Since the reality corresponding to everyday digital interactions has dramatically changed and given rise to a new shopping and browsing experience for the customers, we have to evaluate how far this transformation has taken place and impacted the retail and e-commerce businesses as a whole. No doubt, augmented reality is at the very forefront of this transformation and is playing the most important role. If you are a mobile app development company working with a customer-focused retail or business app, leveraging AR is already an irrefutable choice.
Here through this blog post, we are going to explain some of the key ways augmented reality (AR) is going to revolutionize customer and shopping experience.
Value Proposition of AR for Customer Experience
Let us understand the very basics of how AR works and add value to the customer experience with a distinct value proposition. First of all, the computer data is two dimensional in nature, whereas the world around us perceived as a three-dimensional entity comprising touchable objects. AR is the technology to breach this gap between the two-dimensional computer reality and the three-dimensional reality we live in.
In short, AR works as a bridge to bring together these two distinct worlds. This is done by allowing digital iteration and computer-generated imagery to create an overlaying impact over the real world around us. For instance, when playing the AR-based game Pokemon Go, you can search for the Pokemons in your real-world and accordingly can make progress in your gameplay. Thus interplay of the digital and the real world opened up a whole new range of possibilities and scope of innovations for us.
Constant innovations are taking place to utilize AR for various niche necessities and user interactions. AccuVein has now emerged as a solution to do away with the guessing of locating veins in patient’s bodies. The AR technology of their product allows replicating the vein image on the skin of the patient through superimposition. Thus helps medical practitioners and caregivers to see the vein location clearly when giving injections to patients.
Leading aircraft manufacturer brand Boeing now uses AR in its manufacturing and training facilities to help trainee technicians use AR to fit parts and wings more accurately. General Electric is also using AR to help electricians and technicians to finish wiring tasks faster and with more precision.
So, the impact of AR is already visible across multiple niches and industries across the spectrum. However, the biggest impact of AR can be experienced in marketing, branding, and, most importantly, transforming the customer experience.
Smart Trial Room
Every customer, before making the final purchase decision wants to try the product on his own body. This is particularly true for fashion products, garments, accessories, and wearable stuff. What happens if customers can try the online product right through their mobile devices without bulging their feet? Yes, that can remove the most common shortcomings of the digital shopping experience. Just by looking at the smart mirror enabled by your device camera, the customers can be allowed to look at the necklace or the garment she is wearing.
The smart mirrors in AR-based shopping apps can superimpose the clothing and accessories on your body and allow you to evaluate your look minutely. Thanks to the smart mirrors, deciding on certain purchases has become easier than ever before. Smart mirrors helped replace traditional trial rooms in retail stores
Presenting a Product with a Real-Life Countenance
We are all aware of how the products displayed in online stores are incapable of making them feel just like the products we handle in real-life stores. Thanks to augmented reality, that thin difference concerning customer experience of a product could completely be breached. The three-dimensional product displayed in online stores is capable of showcasing every detail of the product. The AR and VR powered product display can deliver an immersive shopping and browsing experience.
Knowing the Trends Before the Purchase
We all know that certain products become popular simply because of the viral effect they are fortunately subjected to. Certain products emerge as trending simply because people tend to buy from peer pressure or because of the positive impression they create among the buyers in a shirt, Shan of time. This is why buyers always like to know about the specific market trends before making a purchase. Thanks to the connected digital interface with the online stores, buyers can see the Likes or positive ratings of the product in real-time. Such interplay of digital data showcasing trends and popularity can help buyers make the perfect decision for their shopping.
Interactive Packaging
Among the numerous and innovative ways brands can now improve the shopping experience for their customers, interactive product packaging is the latest. Some industries have already started experimenting with interactive and informative digital packaging to the best of their advantage. For example, some pharmaceutical companies are providing medicine packaging that can be scanned by the buyers to get more detailed information about the product.
Conclusion
So augmented reality is pretty raging as a technology in the retail and shopping scene. AR is increasingly becoming the most valued technology to transform shopping and product browsing experience in a multitude of ways.
Author Bio
Nathan McKinley is a Business Development Manager at Cerdonis Technologies LLC iPhone app developers in the USA developing mobile/web and software with a thorough approach to enhance UX and flexibility of a respective app. He loves to share his thoughts on various tech like Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality, Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence & Mobile/Web and Software Design & Development queries aspirants have through his writing skills as a core technical expert in it.
