If we blend 3D assets together in your real environment, we call it augmented reality. This virtual experience can be perceived via your smartphone by unique installations at your favourite store, or with smart glasses. The enriched reality is pushing shopping to the next level of interactive customer journey.
With the arrival of new technologies, the global AR Smart Glasses Market is projected to reach about 46 billion U.S. Dollar by 2026. AR-based Ad revenue is expected to be around 2 billion U.S. Dollar by 2022. These new opportunities were taken mainly by furniture retail, beauty industry, and fashion and footwear industries.
One of the big players in augmented reality experience is snapchat. In cooperation with Taco Bell, they created the AR overlay for smartphones ad. This ad called “Cinco de Mayo” reached 224 million views in a single day and led to each customer spending about 24 seconds experiencing the filter. The effects of AR shopping experience are more intuitive, more friendly, and more satisfying in terms of customer experience.
These positive results and the arrival of 5G will push this development further. The smartphone AR shopping already shows a high satisfaction with AR having 73% of customers today. The AR experience is not only limited to the customer's journey but it also supports the evolution of customer support. AR instructional overlays, Remote assistance, and telepresence reduce costs and return rates. And they lead to customers shopping more often at AR stores.